HD  UC-NRLF. 


The  Farmers'  Union 

and  Federation  Advocate 

and  Guide 


THE  MINIMUM 
PRICE  SYST.M 


BY  W.  H.  KERR 


L 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Arciiive 

in  2007  with  funding  from 

IVIicrosoft  Corporation 


http://www.archive.org/details/farmersunionfedeOOkerrrich 


Farmers'  Union 

and 

Federation  Advocate 
and  Gyide 

One  Hundred  Reasons  why  Farmers 
Should  Unionize  to  Adopt  the  Mini- 
mum Price  System  for  all  Farm  Prod- 
ucts, Especially  Wheat,  to  be  Based 
on  Skilled  Union  Wages  and  Over- 
head Expenses,  Enforced  by  Con- 
certed  Non-Delivery,    if   Necessary. 


The  Minimum  Price  System  for  all 

Farm  Products,  Especially  the 

Big  Five— Wheat,  Cotton, 

Corn,  Cattle,  Hogs. 


TWENTY  QUESTIONS  ANSWERED 

By  a  Wheat  Raiser  of  Forty  Years'  Experience. 


Topeka,  Iftaisap:  ^       ^  ^ 

Crane  &  Company ^^irJterS^  ;; 

191'9.  *  '  *^->  ^  ^ 


^^ 


MAIN  UBRARV-^<5R1Cai_TURE 

COPYRIGHT  APPLIED  FOR 


AH  Rights  Reserved,  including  that  of  translation 
into  foreign  languages, 

by 
W.   H.   KERR, 

GREAT  BEND,  KANSAS. 


SINGLE  COPY,  POSTPAID, 
ONE  DOLLAR. 

liberal  discount  for  quantities,  and  to  agents. 

Make  all  money  orders,  checks  and  drafts 

payable  to  the  publisher  at  the 

above  address. 


,  •  •  • .  • 


•  •  •  r 


• "  • 


Subjects  Indexed  Alphabetically 

Page. 

Aid  "Stay  on  the  Farm"  Slogan 30 

American  Federation  of  Farmers 42 

Bolshevism  to  Spread  Over  All  the  World 137 

Co-operation  Between  Land  Owner  and  Renter 44 

Changing  Overproduction  into  a  Shortage 50 

Chicago's  Ejxatic  M^rKfet  to  be  Eliminated 51 

Cost  of  Raising  Wheat  in  Argentina 63. 

Can  Wheat  Growers  Afford  to  Unionize? 70 

Cost,  But  Not  Price,  of  Wheat  Advances 81 

Congressional  Fight  for  $2.50  Wheat -  .  83 

Comments  on  the  President's  Veto 87 

Crop  Optimist  Should  be  Canned 143 

Cost  of  Raising  Wheat  in  Kansas 154 

Conversion  of  Partners  to  Unionism  the  First  Step ....'. 169 

Desirability  of  Stabilized  Price  of  Wheat 15 

Defense  Against  Unionized  or  Predatory  Capital 35 

Defense  Against  City  Unionized  Labor 36 

Dependable  Expert  Advice 43 

Division  Between  Renter  and  Land  Owner 45 

Elimination  of  Free  Wife  and  Child  Labor 14 

Each  Farm  Product  to  be  Unionized 20 

Equalizing  Rural  and  Urban  Advantages 33 

Enormous  Profits  Allowed  Food  Dealers 100 

Ever  Advancing  Union  Labor  Wages 106 

Farmers'  Children  to  be  College  Educated 31 

Farmers'  Wives  Released  From  Drudgery 32 

Fear  of  Overproduction 46 

Farmers  Punished  for  Capital  and  Labor  Profiteering 62 

Foolishness  of  Kansas  Wheat  Growers 68 

Farmers  Receive  the  Lowest  Income 82 

Farmers  Give  Experience 92 

Farmers  Not  Proportionally  Represented  in  Congress 116 

Farmers  Not  Represented  in  the  President's  Official  Family 129 

Government  for  Increased  Yield,  Not  Price 39 

Government  Indorses  Future  Price-Setting 53 

Greater  Security  for  Borrowed  Money 68 

Government  Receivership  for  Farms  Suggested 99 

Governor  Sees  Conditions  But  Not  Remedy. 145 

General  Guiding  Principles  for  Unionizing 166 

How  to  Eliminate  Foreign  Competition, ,,,..,...,..,. 10 


415575 


Page. 

How  to  Veto  the  President's  Veto 90 

How  Business  Men  Figure  Overhead  Expenses 103 

How  Farmers  Can  Control  Congress  and  Legislatures 120 

High  Cost  of  Living  Caused  by  Profiteering 121 

How  Farmers  Can  Escape  the  High  Cost  of  Living 128 

Industrial  and  Financial  Panic  Coming 123 

Local  Benefit  from  Higher  Wheat  Prices 16 

Lower  Prices  to  Consumers 43 

Labor  Wages  Based  on  Cost  of  Living 74 

Minimum  Price  to  be  Set  by  Wheat  Growers 12 

Maintaining  Prices  After  the  War 18 

Money  in  Unionizing 153 

More  Money  for  Big  Crops 50 

Menace  of  Big  Farms 71 

Methodist  Church  Tackles  the  Farm  Problem 91 

Manufacturer  Investigates  Farm  Conditions 96 

Monopoly  Selling  Should  Meet  Monopoly  Buying.  ..*..._ 114 

Mr.  Wiseman  is  a  Convert  to  Unionism 165 

Numbers  a  Great  Advantage 21 

Natural  and  Artificial  Supply  and  Demand 24 

Necessity  for  International  Wheat  Growers'  Union 113 

Objections  to  Government  Price-Making 56 

Only  Fair  Wages  and  Expenses  Needed  as  Stimulant 91 

Organizing  International  Labor  Unions Ill 

Price  Based  on  Wages  and  Overhead  Expenses 12 

Price-Making  to  Insure  Wages  and  Expenses 14 

Prevention  of  Monopoly  Buying 18 

Put  a  Bottom  to  Wheat  Price 23 

Prevent  Capital  Leaving  the  Farm 27 

Protection  Against  Government  Discrimination 40 

Personal  Experience  in  Overproduction 48 

Price  of  Wheat  Unimportant  Factor  in  Living  Expenses 79 

Political  and  Industrial  Power  of  Union  Labor 126 

Political  Power  of  Unionized  Farmers 139 

Packers  Control  Government  and  Exploit  Farmers 151 

Reimbursement  for  Lost  Labor  and  Capital 26 

Surplus  Carried  Over  to  Famine  Years 29 

Smaller  Farms  Made  Possible 34 

Save  Mortgaging  the  Farm 37 

Some  Sensible  Remarks  by  Secretary  of  Agriculture 149 

To  Improve  Standard  of  Living 22 

To  Pubhsh  a  Daily  Wheat-Trade  Bulletin 28 

To  Modernize  the  Wheat  Growers'  Homes 33 


l^age. 

Tariff  Discrimination  Against  Farmers 57 

To  Give  First  Market  to  Needy  Producers 67 

Twenty  Questions  Answered 158 

Uniform  Price  Over  Same  Territory 17 

Union  to  Own  All  Elevators 27 

Union  to  Establish  Sales  Agencies 29 

Union  to  Employ  Expert  Wheat  Statistician 29 

Union  Labor  to  Enforce  War  Wages 109 

Unionized  Capital  Guards  Its  Interests 112 

Union  Labor  Plans  Political  Control 133 

United  States  to  be  Operated  as  a  Single  Farm 142 

Why  Farmers'  Organizations  Fail 9 

Wages  Same  as  Skilled  Union  Labor  in  Cities 12 

What  Overhead  Expenses  Shall  Include 13 

Wheat  Growers  to  Get  Benefit  of  Favorable  Weather 15 

Wheat  Producers  Should  Go  Into  Politics 59 

Wheat  Raisers  Not  Getting  a  Living  Wage 76 

What  an  Eighty-Acre  Wheat  Farm  Should  Yield  in  Money 78 

Wheat  the  Only  Product  Requisitioned 82 

Why  the  President  Vetoed  the  $2.40  Wheat  Price 86 

Wages  that  Attract  Farmers  to  Cities 92 

Warning  to  Soldiers  to  Pass  Up  Farming 104 

What  To  Do  With  the  Returning  Soldiers 122 


Farmers'  Union  and  Federation 
Guide-Book. 


"Grafter!" 

Oh,  no,  Reuben.  I  am  a  central  Kansas  wheat  producer. 
Have  been  on  the  job  over  forty  years.  Came  to  Barton 
County  in  76.  Uncle  Sam  gave  me  320  acres.  Couldn't 
live  on  buffalo  grass,  and  had  to  go  East  to  get  work.  One 
claim,  160  acres,  jumped  by  a  home-seeker.  No,  couldn't 
make  a  living  and  improve  the  farm  off  160  acres.  None  of 
my  neighbors  could,  either.  That  was  all  the  consolation  I 
had.  It  was  very  poor,  I  admit.  Prices  of  crops  too  low. 
Had  no  money  to  buy  teams,  machinery  or  improve  with. 
Most  of  those  who  went  in  debt  for  them  lost  everything. 
Farms  were  mortgaged  and  lost.  Prices  of  products  would 
not  allow  a  decent  living.  In  a  few  years  most  of  them 
starved  out,  after  mortgaging  their  farms  and  using  up  the 
money.  They  couldn't  succeed  on  the  finest  producing 
prairie  land  where  every  alternate  section  was  free  govern- 
ment land  and  the  other  railroad  land  at  $2.50  to  3.50  an 
acre  on  eleven  years'  time. 

"What  the  Sam  Hill  was  the  matter  with  them?" 

Well,  Reuben,  the  principal  matter  was  too  low  a  price 
for  everything  they  produced,  especially  wheat,  their  main 
crop,  and  too  high  a  price  for  everything  they  had  to  buy. 

"What  brought  about  such  discriminating  conditions 
against  the  farmers?  " 

Well,  it  was  like  this,  Reube.  The  manufacturers  in  the 
East  have  been  running  this  government  for  a  long  time,  and 
they  would  naturally  run  it  in  their  own  financial  interest. 
They  organized  into  unions,  and  had  men  of  their  own  class- 
interest  elected  to  Congress.     They  would  enact  a  law  to 


8  FARMEkS'VNJON  AND  FEDERATION 

elimiuate  the  coiiipetif ioif  of  foreign  goods  by  a  high  tariff; 
that  would  enable  them  to  more  than  double  the  price  of 
their  goods  to  the  farmers,  while  leaving  the  farmers'  prod- 
ucts mostly  free  to  compete  with  the  pauper-produced 
crops  of  Europe  and  Asia,  and,  being  unorganized,  were  un- 
able to  get  the  benefit  of  what  tariff  was  given  them.  Big 
grain  dealers  and  packers  formed  unions  among  themselves 
and  manipulated  the  prices  for  grain  and  stock  in  such  a 
way  as  to  get  it  from  the  farmers  at  pauper-labor  prices.  All 
that  was  because  the  farmers  were  not  unionized  to  enable 
them  to  set  a  fair  price  on  their  products  and  to  secure  it 
through  a  strike,  as  union  labor  does,  by  concerted  non- 
delivery, and  to  elect  members  of  their  own  class  to  protect 
their  interests  in  Congress  and  State  Legislatures.  Now, 
this  unionizing  of  the  wheat  growers  is  to  enable  them  to 
remedy  that  condition  by  putting  them  on  an  equal  footing 
with  unionized  labor  and  unionized  capital  in  their  commer- 
cial and  political  relations. 

"Oh,  rats!  Farmers  should  tend  to  their  own  business  of 
farming  and  keep  out  of  politics.'' 

There,  there,  Reuben,  don't  blow  off  like  that  again. 
Just  have  patience  to  hear  me  through,  and  then  you  may 
see  it  in  a  new  light  if  your  name  is  against  you.  This  is  to 
be  a  presentation  of  one  hundred  reasons,  with  sustaining  ar- 
guments, why  wheat  growers  should  unionize.  But  as  the 
producers  of  all  other  farm  products  should  organize  into 
separate  unions,  this  array  of  reasons  will  fit  their  case  also, 
and  they  can  name  their  product  in  place  of  wheat.  Then 
a  federation  of  these  separate  unions  should  be  organized, 
with  an  executive  head  to  represent  and  defend  their  com- 
mon interest  as  Mr.  Gompers  does  the  American  Federa- 
tion of  Labor. 

''Well,  well!  What  a  delusion!  The  farmers  have  had 
scores  of  unions  and  organizations,  and  they  never  did  stick 
together  and  never  will.  There  are  too  many  of  them  for 
that." 


ADVOCATE  AND  GUIDE.  9 

Now,  see  here,  Reuben ;  the  farmers  never  were  organ- 
ized on  the  right  basis,  nor  for  the  proper  object,  nor  in  the 
proper  way,  and  of  course  they  failed  to  accomphsh  much 
good.  Were  wheat  producers  assured  of  one  hundred  dol- 
lars each  within  a  year  if  they  would  put  up  one  dollar  apiece 
to  finance  the  deal,  wouldn't  they  all  do  it? 

''Sure  they  would,  if  they  could  be  convinced  the  plan 
would  work  out  that  way." 

Well,  please  keep  quiet  now  while  I  try  to  convince 
them  by  overwhelming  proof  that  it  will.  Then  you  may 
give  me  your  opinion  on  it.  But  first  I  shall  point  out  a 
few  of  the  reasons  why  the  farmers  have  so  far  failed  to  get 
adequate  results  from  their  efforts  at  organization. 

Why  Farmers'  Organizations  Fail. 

Farmers'  organizations  have  so  far  failed  to  do  much 
general  and  permanent  good  in  advancing  the  prices  of  their 
products  because : 

(d)  Some  were  only  local  social  or  neighborhood  affairs 
of  no  general  interest,  and  meetings  were  discontinued  when 
the  busy  season  came  on. 

(6)  National  organizations  accepted  producers  of  all 
farm  products  as  members,  thereby  incorporating  those  of 
conflicting  interest.  The  cotton  grower  and  the  wheat 
grower,  and  producers  of  any  other  special  product  exclu- 
sively had  no  interest  in  boosting  the  prices  of  other  farmers' 
products  of  which  they  are  only  consumers.  This  was  a 
fatal  error.  Labor  does  not  unionize  that  way.  As  labor  is 
very  successful  at  unionizing,  farmers  should  follow  their 
plans  and  tactics  by  unionizing  the  producers  of  each  prod- 
uct separately,  and  then  forming  a  federation  of  farmers' 
unions  as  labor  is  federated,  and  for  the  same  purposes. 
Each  of  two  score  products  is  big  enough  to  justify  unionizing. 

(c)  Local  farmers'  unions,  or  jobbing  associations,  are 
simply  merchandising  for  their  stockholders.  While  they 
occasionally  save  a  few  pennies  on  their  purchases,  they  are 


10  FARMERS'  UNION  AND  FEDERATION 

losing  dollars  on  their  products — a  case  of  penny  wise  and 
dollar  foolish.  No  farmers'  unions  were  ever  organized  for 
the  purposes  herein  outlined,  and  therefore  no  failure  has 
been  made  in  it.  This  is  to  be  a  radical  change  in  the 
methods  and  objects  of  unionizing.  Farmers  are  to  take 
over  the  entire  business  of  fixing  the  minimum  price  through- 
out the  nation  on  their  products  and  enforce  it  through  a 
temporary  concerted  national  suspension  of  delivery  of  their 
products  should  gamblers  and  speculators  attempt  to  force 
a  lower  price.  That  price  is  to  be  based  on  overhead  ex- 
penses and  skilled  union  labor  wages  to  the  farmers  and  the 
working  members  of  their  families  while  producing  and  mar- 
keting the  crop. 

''Great  Scott!  Farmers  working  for  wages!  I  should  say 
not!  They  will  work  for  profit,  but  not  for  wages  on  their 
own  farms." 

Now,  see  here,  Reuben,  you  stop  butting  in.  It  makes  a 
break  in  my  explanations.  You  are  a  farmer.  Were  you  to 
get  two  to  four  times  the  price  of  your  product  under  the 
name  of  wages  and  overhead  expenses  than  under  the  name 
of  profit,  wouldn't  you  be  better  satisfied? 

''I  guess  I  would  be." 

I  know  you  would  be,  and  so  would  every  other  sensible 
farmer. 

''But  it  would  cost  a  lot  to  unionize,  maintain  offices,  pay 
the  officers  and  executive  committees,  etc.  Who  is  going  to 
put-up  that  initial  expense  money?" 

There  you  go  off  half  cocked  again,  and  I  have  to  divert 
to  explain.  You  never  harvested  a  crop  before  you  had  to 
advance  labor  and  expense  in  financing  its  seeding.  Like- 
wise, those  who  are  to  harvest  the  wealth  from  unionizing 
must  advance  the  yearly  cost  of  that  union.  That  cost  is 
then  added  as  part  of  the  overhead  expense  of  the  product 
to  its  minimum  sale  price,  and  in  that  way  returned  to  the 
members  of  the  union.     You  see  when  farmers  unionize  in 


ADVOCATE  AND  GUIDE.  11 

this  way  they  are  to  become  business  men  and  use  their 
approved  business  methods. 

''I  never  thought  of  that.  It  begins  to  look  good  to  me." 
If  you  will  just  keep  quiet  until  I  get  through  it  will  look 
better  to  us  both,  and  you  will  see  many  more  advantages 
in  becoming  a  business  man  in  addition  to  being  a  farmer. 
You  may  then  even  admit  that  it  would  be  a  good  thing  for 
farmers  to  go  into  politics,  also,  and  elect  members  of  their 
unions  to  the  Legislatures  and  Congress  to  look  after  their 
interests  as  business  men  do,  and^  as  union  labor  is  beginning 
to  do.  There  is  absolute  certainty,  much  more  than  that 
you  will  raise  a  crop  next  year,  that  if  the  wheat  producers 
will  put  up  the  necessary  labor  and  money  to  unionize,  like 
they  have  to  do  in  advance  for  next  year's  crop,  that  they 
can  sell  that  crop  for  two  or  three  times  the  price  they  will 
get  for  it  if  they  leave  the  price-making  to  gamblers  and 
speculators  as  heretofore.  The  only  task  for  me  is  to  point 
out  to  them  the  desirability  and  advantages  of  receiving  that 
increased  price  until  they  are  convinced  that  it  is  worth 
while  to  stand  the  work  and  expense  pf  unionizing  in  ad- 
vance. 


I  have  listed  one  hundred  reasons  why  the  wheat  produc- 
ers should  unionize  to  win  that  increased  price  and  other 
advantages.  Some  more  reasons  got  away  before  I  could 
list  them,  and  many  wheat  growers  will  think  of  some  that 
I  did  not. 

I  shall  index  them  and  make  some  sustaining  arguments 
briefly  for  each.  The  reader  can  elaborate  on  them  ad- 
infinitum.  No  claim  is  made  that  these  reasons  are  arranged 
in  logical  order  in  their  relation  to  the  subject.  I  listed  them 
as  they  occurred  to  me.  Some  of  the  arguments  apply  to 
two  or  more  reasons  and  repetition  may  occur. 


12  FARMERS'  UNION  AND  FEDERATION 

Minimum  Price  to  be  Set  by  the  Wheat  Growers. 

Of  the  thousands  of  articles  the  wheat  grower  buys,  and 
of  the  many  professional  services  he  needs,  the  price  of  not 
even  one  is  dictated  by  him.  Those  who  provide  them  set 
the  price,  and  he  can  either  pay  it  or  do  without.  Not  hav- 
ing the  price,  he  does  without  four-fifths  of  his  needs.  The 
seller  sets  the  price  in  this  case.  But  when  he  sells  his 
wheat  the  buyer  sets  the  price.  All  a  one-sided  game.  The 
cards  are  stacked  against  him.  Hundreds  of  trusts,  com- 
binations, agreements  and  unions  are  formed  to  raise  the 
price  on  things  he  needs.»  Others  are  formed  to  juggle, 
swindle  and  beat  him  out  of  a  living  wage  for  his  wheat. 
There  is  no  justice  in  that,  and  never  will  be  until  he  acts 
to  aid  himself  by  unionizing  as  the  others  do  to  price  his 
wheat  himself  to  cover  wages  and  expense  of  production. 

Somebody  or  combination  must  necessarily  set  the  price 
on  wheat.  Who  is  more  qualified  or  entitled  to  do  that  than 
those  who  produce  it?  Only  through  unionizing  can  the 
wheat  grower  do  that. 

Price  Based  on  Wages  and  Overhead  Expenses. 

All  I  ask  for  the  wheat  growers  is  skilled  labor  wages  and 
overhead  expenses  as  a  minimum  price  for  their  wheat.  Who 
would  dare  deny  them  the  right  to  unionize  to  demand  it, 
and  enforce  it  by  any  means  in  their  united  power?  Are 
they  not  as  justly  entitled  to  fair  wages  as  any  labor  union? 
Are  they  not  as  much  entitled  to  necessary  expenses  as  any 
other  business? 

Only  through  unionizing  to  dictate  the  price  of  wheat  can 
its  producers  command  fair  wages  and  overhead  expenses  in 
its  production. 

Wages  Same  as  Skilled  Union  Labor  in  Cities. 

It  requires  skill  and  experience  to  operate  all  machinery 
used  in  producing  wheat,  and  the  operator  should  have  the 


ADVOCATE  AND  GUIDE.  13 

same  wages  as  skilled  union  labor  in  cities.  The  hour  is  the 
unit  of  time  wages  are  reckoned  by  in  cities,  and  should  be 
adopted  by  the  wheat  producer.  If  the  average  union  wages 
in  cities  are  found  to  be  seventy-five  cents  an  hour,  then 
that  should  be  his  wages  also.  As  union  wages  are  incor- 
porated in  the  price  of  everything  the  wheat  grower  buys, 
then  he  must  incorporate  wages  for  himself  and  family  in  the 
minimum  price  of  his  wheat  and  collect  when  he  sells  it. 
Their  wages  must  be  computed  on  every  hour  put  in  to 
produce  wheat,  such  as  plowing,  packing,  harrowing,  disk- 
ing, cultivating,  fertilizing,  drilling,  harvesting,  stacking, 
threshing,  marketing,  and  care  of  teams  and  machinery, 
even  repairing  fences  to  protect  it.  As  the  services  of  a 
two-horse  team  is  of  equal  value,  the  wages  for  it  should  be 
the  same  as  for  the  man,  and  figured  in  the  wheat  price  the 
same  way.  But  only  by  unionizing  can  the  wheat  grower 
collect  these  wages  for  himself  and  teams  through  the  pric- 
ing of  his  wheat. 

What  Overhead  Expenses  Shall  Include. 

Every  business  that  produces  commodities  the  wheat 
grower  buys  includes  overhead  expenses  when  setting  the 
price  on  them.  The  wheat  grower  must  do  that  also  when 
computing  the  cost  of  wheat. 

His  overhead  expense  should  include  interest  on  the  value 
of  the  land,  or  its  cash  rent ;  improvements,  teams  and  ma- 
chinery; insurance  and  taxes;  pasture  and  feed  for  teams 
the  year  round;  operating  expenses  and  repairs  for  ma- 
chinery ;  a  per  cent  for  depreciation  of  improvements ;  teams, 
machinery,  and  depletion  of  soil  fertility;  seed;  fertilizer; 
and  all  cost  connected  with  organizing  and  maintaining  the 
wheat  growers'  union.  This  latter  is  a  proper  expense  ac- 
count recognized  by  all  business  men  and  unionized  capital 
and  labor,  since  the  organization  is  to  be  both  a  sales  agency 


14  FARMERS'  UNION  AND  FEDERATION 

and  a  collecting  agency  through  which  the  wheat  grower  is 
to  sell  his  wheat  and  collect  his  wages  and  expenses. 

But  only  by  unionizing  can  the  wheat  grower  have  the 
power  to  price  his  own  product  and  collect  wages  and  ex- 
pense of  producing  it.     Will  it  pay  to  unionize? 

Elimination  of  Free  Wife  and  Child  Labor. 

If  for  no  other  reason,  the  wheat  growers  should  unionize 
to  free  their  wives  and  children  from  the  necessity  of  farm 
drudgery.  They  have  been  freed  in  the  cities ;  why  not  on 
the  farms?  All  other  classes  of  producers  and  laborers  have 
unionized  and  demanded  a  wage  that  would  maintain  their 
families  without  their  labor,  and  it  is  granted  them.  All 
professional  people  have  done  the  same  thing.  You  never 
hear  of  the  wives  and  children  of  lawyers,  doctors,  teachers, 
preachers,  merchants,  mechanics  or  laborers  who  have  un- 
ionized having  to  work  to  aid  in  making  the  living.  Why 
should  the  wives  and  children  of  the  wheat  growers  have  to 
do  that?  Simply  because  they  are  not  unionized  to  demand 
and  enforce  a  price  for  their  own  labor  that  will  maintain 
their  families  as  city  families  are  maintained.  Yes,  it  will 
pay  to  unionize. 

Price-making  to  Insure  Wages  and  Expenses. 

Only  by  taking  over  the  price-making  power  through  un- 
ionizing can  wheat  growers  be  assured  of  return  of  wages 
advanced  to  hired  help  so  they  can  discontinue  using  the 
free  labor  of  wives  and  children.  When  wives  and  children 
do  work  in  producing  wheat  they  should  be  paid  union  wages 
for  every  hour  they  work,  and  the  growers  should  unionize 
to  see  to  it  that  their  wages,  too,  are  added  to  the  price  of 
wheat.  '  There  is  absolutely  no  justification  for  expecting  or 
requiring  them  to  give  free  labor  that  bread  may  be  cheap 
to  the  idle  rich  of  the  cities,  or  to  those  who  include  high 
imion  wages  in  the  price  of  everything  the  wheat  grower 
buys. 


ADVOCATE  AND  GUIDE.  15 

When  wheat  growers  have  a  Uttle  money  saved  up  they 
are  afraid  to  invest  it  in  hired  help  and  machinery  to  put  in 
another  crop  through  fear  of  the  price  being  too  low  to  jus- 
tify it.  That  will  be  remedied  when  they  unionize  and  take 
over  the  price-making  on  their  wheat  to  insure  the  return  of 
money  invested  in  it.  It  is  of  much  greater  importance  that 
favorable  conditions  for  making  a  living  be  provided  pos- 
terity than  that  great  wealth  be  given  it. 

Wheat  Grower  to  Get  Benefit  of  Favorable  Weather. 

Under  the  gambling  plan  of  regulating  the  price  of  wheat 
by  the  board  of  trade,  future  prices  for  wheat  for  a  year 
ahead  are  sold  down  whenever  a  rain  or  snow  or  other 
favorable  weather  cover  one  or  more  of  the  big  wheat-pro- 
ducing States.  That  carries  down  the  present  cash  price  of 
last  year's  crop.  Thus,  what  should  be  a  joy  to  the  wheat 
grower  is  made  a  sorrow.  By  that  method  of  price-making 
the  bumper  crop  is  a  calamity  instead  of  a  benefit  to  the 
wheat  grower,  since  he  is  made  to  take  less  money  for  it 
than  for  a  poor  crop.  Only  by  unionizing  can  the  wheat 
growers  take  over  from  the  board  of  trade  to  themselves  the 
power  to  dictate  the  price  of  wheat  and  change  favorable 
weather  into  pleasant  anticipations  instead  of  gloomy  fore- 
boding. 

Will  it  pay  to  unionize  to  secure  the  reward  of  industry? 


!■"     \nrt 


Desirability  of  Stabilized  Price  of  Wheat. 

None  but  the  gamblers  and  speculators  are  benefited  by 
violent  fluctuations  in  wheat  prices,  while  all  other  people 
are  injured  by  it.  The  farther  the  big  gamblers  swing  the 
price  back  and  forth  the  more  millions  they  make.  By  that 
method  they  not  only  juggle  the  wheat  out  of  the  growers' 
hands  at  the  low  price  and  sell  it  at  the  high  price,  but  they 
beat  the  small  gamblers  generally  out  of  the  margins  they 
put  up  on  either  side  of  the  game.     Only  by  unionizing  to 


16  FARMERS'  UNION  AND  FEDERATION 

fix  and  control  the  price  of  wheat  can  it  be  maintained  at  a 
uniform  price  the  year  round ;  and  that  would  be  best  for 
all  necessary  business  in  handling  wheat  and  its  products : 

(a)  For  the  Wheat  Grower. — The  wheat  grower  could 
then  buy  his  land,  make  improvements,  buy  teams  and 
machinery  and  hire  help,  with  the  assurance  that  he  will  get 
the  interest  and  wages  returned  in  the  price  of  his  wheat. 

(6)  For  the  Elevators,  Mills  and  Bakeries. — These  in- 
terests, knowing  in  advance  the  sure  price  of  wheat,  could 
operate  on  a  much  smaller  margin  of  profit.  They  would 
not  have  to  deal  on  the  board  of  trade  to  protect  themselves 
against  loss  by  a  violent  depreciation  of  values.  A  normal, 
uniform  supply  need  only  be  kept  in  storage.  That  would 
make  the  demand  for  wheat  constant  the  year  round. 

(c)  For  Union  Labor  in  Cities. — Knowing  the  stable 
price  of  wheat,  union  labor  in  cities  could  feel  protected 
against  a  corner  in  wheat  that  would  increase  the  price  of 
bread.  They  would  also  be  better  satisfied  to  know  the  most 
of  their  bread  bill  went  to  fellow  union  laborers  on  the  farm 
instead  of  to  wheat  gamblers  and  speculators.  They  would 
know  that  it  would  aid  in  giving  them  steady  employment, 
as  it  came  back  in  the  increased  demand  for  all  the  things 
the  wheat  growers  need. 

Will  it  pay  to  unionize  for  these  advantages? 

Local  Benefits  from  Higher  Wheat  Prices. 

From  every  live  town,  village  and  rural  neighborhood 
there  is  a  perpetual  flow  of  money  going  out  for  supplies 
of  commodities  needed,  and  a  perpetual  return  stream  of 
money  for  their  products  needed  elsewhere.  Upon  the  size 
of  this  return  stream  depends  absolutely  the  degree  of  pros- 
perity of  that  community.  In  strictly  agricultural  States 
and  localities  where  wheat  is  the  primary  crop,  its  price  de- 
termines the  size  of  the  return  golden  stream  to  that  locality. 


k 


ADVOCATE  AND  GUIDE.  17 

The  higher  the  price  the  greater  that  return  stream  and  the 
greater  degree  of  prosperity. 

Of  course,  it  flows  into  the  wheat  producers'  pocket 
first,  but  it  don't  stay  there  long.  He  pours  it  out  with  a 
prodigal  hand  for  his  needs,  which  are  unlimited.  The 
merchants  get  theirs  at  once  for  long-wanted  supplies.  The 
doctor,  dentist,  lawyer,  printer,  teacher,  carpenter,  painter, 
and  other  professionals  soon  get  theirs  for  the  postponed 
services  until  they  had  the  price.  Towns  and  villages  soon 
feel  this  increased  life-giving  energy  pulsating  through  their 
commercial  veins.  They  take  on  new  life  that  is  reflected 
in  many  improvements.  Heavier  orders  begin  to  flow  back 
to  the  cities  for  greater  supplies  of  all  things  needed,  and 
herein  is  where  the  manufacturers  and  union  labor  in  cities 
get  their  reward. 

Everybody  will  be  satisfied  and  hurrah  for  the  wheat 
growers'  union. 


I 


Uniform  Price  Over  Same  Territory. 

Under  present  methods  of  pricing  wheat  by  independent 
local  buyers  there  is  no  uniform  price.  One  buyer,  if  he 
has  a  monopoly  of  a  certain  territory,  or  several  buyers  will 
combine  to  control  the  price  in  a  given  territory  and  set  the 
price  from  ten  to  twenty-five  cents  a  bushel  lower  than  is 
being  paid  hundreds  of  miles  farther  from  market  for  the 
same  grade  of  wheat.  Often  in  towns  only  ten  miles  apart 
there  will  be  a  difference  of  five  to  fifteen  cents  in  prices. 
The  wheat  grower  sometimes  hauls  his  wheat  past  one  or 
more  stations  to  get  to  the  better  market,  causing  needless 
time  and  labor.  It  is  also  unfair  to  the  towns  that  lose  part 
of  the  wheat  growers'  patronage  by  that  practice  of  its 
wheat  buyers.  Through  the  control  of  prices  by  the  wheat 
growers'  union  there  would  be  uniform  prices  established  in 
the  same  territory.     Wouldn't  that  be  more  satisfactory? 


18  FARMERS'  UNION  AND  FEDERATION 

Prevention  of  Monopoly  Buying? 

Another  line  of  monopoly  buyers  are  the  big  speculators 
and  cash  dealers  who  form  an  agreement  to  divide  between 
them  the  wheat-raising  territory,  thus  eliminating  buying 
competition  among  themselves.  Each  one  then  has  a  mo- 
nopoly of  bidding  on  wheat  to  the  local  elevators  in  his 
allotted  territory. 

A  third  line  of  monopoly  buyers  are  the  wheat  importing 
nations  among  our  Allies.  The  papers  reported  last  sum- 
mer that  Mr.  Hoover,  the  Food  Administrator,  induced 
them  to  pool  their  requirements  with  that  of  the  United 
States  and  all  buy  through  one  agency  to  eliminate  compe- 
tition among  nations  for  our  wheat.  That  is  the  most  pow- 
erful buying  monopoly  that  could  be  organized.  It  put  the 
boards  of  trade  and  big  wheat  speculators  out  of  the  wheat 
speculating  business. 

That  monopoly  will  doubtlessly  be  the  most  oppressive 
ever  organized  to  beat  the  wheat  raiser  out  of  living  wages 
for  his  wheat.  It  will  have  the  wheat  raisers  of  this  and  all 
other  wheat  exporting  countries  absolutely  at  its  mercy. 
The  foreign  nations  will  continue  the  combine,  though  they 
may  operate  through  the  boards  of  trade  after  the  war. 
Nothing  but  a  complete  unionizing  of  the  wheat  growers 
can  possibly  save  them  from  all  being  forced  to  pauper  wages 
for  their  product. 

Will  it  pay  to  unionize  to  save  yourselves  from  this  pow- 
erful combine  that  can  enslave  you? 

Maintaining  Prices  After  the  War. 

When  the  war  is  over  there  will  be  radical  changes  in  our 
economic  and  industrial  conditions.  Released  armies  will 
make  an  over-supply  of  laborers,  added  to  the  vast  number 
of  women  who  have  taken  their  former  places  in  industries. 
There  will  be  a  general  demand  for  lower  wages  all  around 
by  employers.     Union  labor  in  cities  will  put  up  a  stiif  fight 


ADVOCATE  AND  GUIDE.  19 

against  it.  Then  governments  will  place  surplus  labor  on 
farms  to  produce  food  to  lower  the  price  of  farm  products. 
Nothing  but  the  unionizing  of  producers  of  all  farm  products 
to  enforce  fair  wages  and  expenses  through  a  strike  by  con- 
certed non-delivery  can  save  them  from  the  calamity  of 
peonage  through  over-supplies. 

Will  it  pay  to  unionize  to  fight  for  your  rights  and  interests 
as  city  union  labor  does,  or  will  you  be  supine  slaves  to  any 
unjust  burden  put  upon  you? 

How  to  Eliminate  Foreign  Competition. 

All  nations  will  be  so  impoverished  after  the  war  that 
they  will  not  only  seek  to  provision  themselves,  but  where 
possible  will  endeavor  to  produce  food  for  export.  This 
will  be  produced  by  the  cheap  unorganized  labor  of  their 
teeming  millions. 

It  was  reported  before  the  war  that  wheat  producers  of 
India  hire  their  help  for  five  cents  a  day,  and  those  of  Russia, 
one  of  the  greatest  wheat-producing  countries,  for  only 
eight  cents  a  day.  Do  American  wheat  producers  wish  to 
be  forced  to  compete  with  them  in  the  open  markets  of  the 
world?  There  is  only  one  plan  to  avoid  it ;  that  is  to  un- 
ionize for  self-protection.  The  government  will  not  protect 
you,  neither  will  your  Republican  or  Democratic  Congress- 
men. They  are  from  the  cities.  Their  sympathies  and  fi- 
nancial interests  are  in  the  cities,  with  their  demand  for 
cheap  food,  and  they  want  all  the  decline  in  prices  to  be 
borne  by  the  farmer. 

The  only  course  left,  then,  is  self-protection  through  un- 
ionizing as  other  business  and  labor  does.  Then  the  wheat 
grower  will  have  two  opportunities  to  eliminate  that  foreign 
competition.  One  is  to  send  an  organizing  commission  to 
all  wheat-exporting  countries  to  unionize  the  wheat  growers 
there  and  induce  them  to  put  the  same  price  on  their  wheat 
as  Americans  do.     If  this  plan  fails,  then  try  the  other. 


20  FARMERS'  UNION  AND  FEDERATION 

That  is  to  elect  wheat  producers  to  Congress  and  have  them 
put  a  tariff  on  wheat  to  equal  more  than  the  difference  be- 
tween prices  here  and  abroad  to  protect  the  home  markets 
for  the  home  producers.  That  is  the  course  pursued  by 
the  New  England  manufacturers  for  over  fifty  years,  and 
resulted  in  building  up  great  cities  at  the  expense  of  farming 
populations.  To  protect  the  farmers'  interests  by  the  same 
methods  and  build  up  the  country  at  the  expense  of  the 
cities  would  only  be  a  just  retribution,  and  a  healthy  con- 
dition of  society  readjustment  to  be  desired  by  all  well 
wishers  of  our  populations. 

Will  it  pay  to  unionize  to  use  your  united  power  for  self- 
protection  against  the  mighty  powers  organized  against  you? 

Each  Farm  Product  to  be  Unionized. 

Every  division  of  industrial  labor  is  separately  unionized 
to  enforce  fair  dealing,  good  conditions  and  big  wages  for 
their  special  occupations.  Then  most  of  them  are  united 
in  the  American  Federation  of  Labor  to  use  their  united 
voting  power  to  elect  Congressmen  to  protect  their  interests 
in  laws  enacted,  and  to  defeat  adverse  legislation  proposed 
by  their  enemies.  They  elect  heads  of  unions  and  of  the 
common  federation  to  represent  them  collectively  before 
government  arbitration  boards  and  commissions,  to  plead 
their  cause,  defend  their  rights,  and  demand  their  object. 
The  imion  stands  ready  to  back  up  their  elected  representa- 
tives with  a  strike  order  to  enforce  their  demands  if  not 
granted  voluntarily.  Only  bj'*  following  the  example  of  la- 
bor in  cities  can  the  farmers  enforce  their  demand  for  as 
good  wages  through  the  price  of  their  products. 

It  is  to  their  common  interests  that  the  producers  of  each 
product  should  unionize  to  fix  and  enforce  a  minimum  price 
to  cover  expenses  and  good  wages.  Then  they  can  pool 
their  vote  to  elect  their  own  candidates  to  Congress  to  pro- 
tect their  economic  and  poHtical  interests  by  enacting  favor- 


ADVOCATE  AND  GUIDE.  21 

able  laws  and  defeating  or  repealing  unfavorable  ones.  Then 
the  authorized  heads  of  their  unions  can  meet  government 
boards  and  commissions  to  defend  their  union  and  prices, 
and  to  represent  them  before  Congressional  committees  hav- 
ing the  consideration  of  bills  affecting  their  interests.  If  all 
other  means  fail  to  get  justice,  then  they  can  resort  to  the 
strike  of  concerted  non-delivery  of  products  to  obtain  it. 
Farmers  then  will  become  class  conscious,  and  their  unions 
will  order  sympathetic  strikes  until  justice  is  secured  to  the 
injured  one,  as  union  labor  in  cities  do. 

Of  course,  a  mighty  howl  would  be  raised  against  "class 
legislation"  did  the  united  power  of  farmers'  unions  secure 
a  favorable  law ;  but  that  howl  would  only  come  from  those 
organized  classes  who  have  put  through  nothing  but  class 
legislation  for  decades,  and  object  to  competition  in  that 
business. 

Will  it  pay  to  unionize  to  have  authorized  representatives 
to  defend  your  rights  and  interests  in  Congress,  and  to  se- 
cure fair  wages  and  expenses  for  your  crops? 

Numbers  a  Great  Advantage. 

The  great  number  of  farmers,  instead  of  being  a  detri- 
ment in  unionizing  and  a  handicap  to  securing  justice,  as 
many  believe,  is  the  greatest  factor  in  their  favor.  Their 
vast  numbers  can  easily  be  unionized  now  with  the  aid  of 
the  phone  and  daily  papers  they  nearly  all  have  to  inform 
them  of  meetings  for  that  purpose.  When  unionized  their 
numbers  will  give  them  a  corresponding  political  power. 
With  it  they  can  reward  members  of  Congress  and  State 
Legislatures  for  working  in  their  interests  by  re-election, 
and  punish  those  who  are  their  enemies  by  putting  forward 
a  candidate  of  their  own  union.  Congress  will  listen  to 
their  grievances  and  remove  them  if  possible.  All  who  deal 
with  them  unjustly  can  be  punished  and  put  out  of  business 
by   a  concerted  boycott.     Their  combined  power  can  be 


22  FARMERS'  UNION  AND  FEDERATION 

used  in  many  ways  to  better  farm  conditions,  build  up  rural 
enterprises,  make  farming  attractive  and  profitable,  and  rural 
homes  desirable. 
Will  it  pay  to  unionize  for  these  advantages? 

To  Improve  Standard  of  Living. 

The  standard  of  living  in  cities  is  far  ahead  of  that  of  the 
farmers ;  any  one  traveling  will  soon  notice  that.  In  many 
sections  of  the  country  one  can  travel  for  hundreds  of  miles 
by  rail  and  seldom  see  a  new  farm  building,  or  a  newly 
painted  house,  or  any  other  improvement  indicating  pros- 
perity on  the  farms.  School  houses  and  churches  are  old, 
out  of  repair,  and  too  large  now  for  the  ever  diminishing 
population.  Preachers  and  teachers  are  not  so  well  paid  as 
in  cities,  consequently  poorer  services  are  rendered.  Families 
are  living  in  old,  ramshackle,  unpainted  buildings  or  log 
cabins  put  up  by  their  pioneer  grandfathers  before  the  war, 
three-fourths  to  a  century  ago.  Outbuildings  are  few  and 
dilapidated,  tools  are  few  and  out  of  date,  people  are  poorly 
dressed.  They  evidently  have  very  little  money  to  spend 
on  such  things. 

How  different  is  the  scene  in  going  through  the  towns  of 
that  same  section  of  country.  Many  new  houses  are  seen; 
nearly  all  are  painted  and  in  good  repair;  schools  and 
churches  are  being  constantly  increased  and  enlarged ;  walks 
and  principal  streets  are  paved;  water,  electric  light  and 
sewer  systems  have  been  installed;  homes  are  modernized 
with  these  services  and  furnace  heat;  people  are  better 
dressed.  The  proof  of  prosperity  is  everywhere.  Money 
has  been  plentiful  and  expended  lavishly  to  improve  condi- 
tions and  make  pleasant,  comfortable  and  beautiful  homes. 

Why  is  this  difference?  There  is  only  one  answer.  Every 
interest  has  unionized  and  set  a  minimum  wage  or  price  on 


ADVOCATE  AND  GUIDE.  23 

their  services.  That  price  is  high  enough  to  not  only  keep 
themselves  and  families  in  luxury,  but  to  provide  the  money 
for  all  their  improvements. 

Will  it  pay  you  wheat  raisers  to  unionize  so  you,  too,  can 
secure  better  wages  for  your  services  to  enable  you  to  have 
as  good  conditions  as  city  people?  It  is  for  you  to  say,  and 
unionize  if  you  desire  it. 

Put  a  Bottom  to  the  Wheat  Price. 

There  being  no  one,  or  combination,  to  put  a  bottom  to 
wheat  prices  except  the  big  speculators,  it  is  to  their  interest 
to  sell  the  price  down  to  the  lowest  possible  notch  before 
loading  up  with  cash  wheat  and  options  for  expected  higher 
prices  when  the  bulk  of  the  wheat  is  out  of  the  producers' 
hands. 

These  speculators  make  a  secret  agreement  among  them- 
selves to  force  the  price  down  to  a  certain  figure  before  they 
begin  loading  up,  as  big  speculators  do  in  other  farm  prod- 
ucts. When  options  are  the  highest  for  the  future  months, 
when  the  farm  deliveries  are  made,  they  sell  for  delivery 
millions  of  bushels.  As  the  new  crop  begins  to  move  freely 
they  make  concerted  bear  raids  on  the  market  to  sell  it  down. 
Every  item  of  bullish  news  and  lots  of  lies  about  bumper 
crops  and  over-supplies  are  dished  up  in  the  daily  papers 
until  the  producer  begins  to  feel  he  will  be  lucky  if  he  can 
sell  his  wheat  at  all.  As  the  price  of  wheat  goes  down  the 
mills,  bakers,  foreign  buyers  and  other  dealers  in  wheat  and 
its  products  refuse  to  stock  up  through  fear  the  prices  have 
not  reached  their  lowest  point  of  the  delivery  season.  They 
dispose  of  surplus  stock  and  buy  only  their  daily  needs,  hop- 
ing for  ever  lower  prices  before  laying  in  supplies.  Small 
gamblers,  seeing  the  fortunes  "bears"  have  made  in  the 
decline  of  prices,  now  come  in  on  the  selling  side.  The  big 
speculators  in  the  bear  combine,  though  not  having  raised 
a  bushel  of  wheat,  now  openly  flood  the  boards  of  trade  with 


24  FARMERS'  UNION  AND  FEDERATION 

selling  orders  in  one  supreme  effort  to  force  the  price  down 
to  their  mark  as  the  maximum  farm  deliveries  come  on.  The 
producer,  seeing  his  daily  loss,  and  no  bottom  to  prices  in 
sight,  now  becomes  panic-stricken  and  rushes  his  wheat  to 
market  on  double-quick  time.  He  has  already  lost  the 
year's  wages  of  himself  and  family.  Creditors  are  clamoring 
for  theirs,  the  mortgagee  demands  his,  expense  bills  for 
threshing  and  other  labor  must  be  paid  at  once.  Wheat 
has  lost  its  security  value,  as  no  one  sees  a  bottom  to  its 
price  except  the  big  gamblers,  and  they  won't  tell.  They 
now  quietly  change  over  to  the  buying  side,  fill  their  million- 
bushel  granaries  with  the  surplus  wheat,  i&ll  their  contracts 
on  options  they  sold  months  ago  at  double  the  price,  and  now 
buy  options  on  millions  of  bushels  in  later  months  which 
they  expect  to  sell  then  at  twenty-five  to  one  hundred  per 
cent  increased  price  when  the  growers  are  sold  out.  A  few 
of  these  big  wheat  gamblers  and  speculators  get  more  money 
out  of  a  wheat  crop  than  ten  thousand  wheat  raisers  do. 

Will  it  pay  to  unionize  to  take  from  the  gamblers  and 
speculators  the  power  to  price  your  own  wheat,  and  set  the 
bottom  price  high  enough  to  get  for  yourselves  those  mil- 
lions of  dollars  they  swindle  you  out  of?  If  you  are  wise 
you  will  say  it  will,  and  proceed  to  unionize.  No  existing 
organization  of  farmers,  nor  all  of  them  combined,  can  put 
a  bottom  to  prices  of  farm  products.  They  are  not  organized 
for  that  purpose.     It  will  require  this  plan  of  unionizing. 

Natural  and  Artificial  Supply  and  Demand. 

Farmers  have  been  taught  that  supply  and  demand  reg- 
ulated prices.  But  there  are  two  kinds  of  supply  and  de- 
mand— one  natural  and  one  artificial.  With  a  demand  for 
only  an  average  yield  a  big  crop  would  give  an  over-supply, 
while  a  short  crop  would  cause  an  over-demand.  The  board 
of  trade  is  a  device  for  making  an  artificial  supply  or  de- 
mand on  short  notice.    When  the  ''bulls"  make  a  concerted 


ADVOCATE  AND  GUIDE.  25 

buying  raid  on  the  board  of  trade  they  create  an  artificial 
demand  that  sends  prices  up ;  but  when  they  change  into 
''bears"  and  sell,  it  creates  an  artificial  supply  and  prices 
decline.     They  may  not  own  a  bushel  of  real  wheat. 

By  this  artificial  method  the  big  speculator  throws  mil- 
lions of  imaginary  bushels  into  the  market  in  competition 
with  the  growers'  real  wheat,  creating  an  over-supply  where 
an  over-demand  would  have  occurred.  His  object  is  to 
keep  prices  from  advancing,  or  even  to  lower  them,  until  he 
loads  up  with  more  cheap  wheat.  Then  when  farm  supplies 
are  gone,  this  same  ''bear"  changes  into  a  huge  "bull."  He 
takes  his  cash  wheat  off  the  market  and  throws  large  buy- 
ing orders  on  the  board  of  trade.  That  creates  an  artificial 
demand  that  no  one  cares  to  try  to  fill,  since  the  growers 
have  sold  out.  Up  and  up  goes  the  price  now.  He  is  mak- 
ing thousands  of  dollars  on  his  cash  wheat  and  options  for 
every  cent  it  advances.  He  puts  out  columns  of  bull  news 
about  such  great  demand  for  wheat  and  no  supplies,  a  con- 
dition he  and  his  fellow-conspirators  created  to  boost  prices. 
He  even  predicts  in  the  papers  that  some  mysterious  inter- 
est has  cornered  wheat  and  will  double  its  price.  Everybody 
gets  the  "bull"  fever.  Those  who  have  wheat  hold  it  for 
the  expected  top  price.  Millers  and  bakers  and  other  deal- 
ers in  wheat  and  its  products  now  get  panic-stricken  to  se- 
cure supplies  before  wheat  gets  too  scarce. 

Thus  supply  and  demand  is  a  made-to-order  condition  by 
the  big  manipulators.  When  they  get  the  price  up  to  where 
they  want  it,  they  quietly  unload  their  huge  stocks  of  wheat 
at  a  price  twenty-five  to  one  hundred  per  cent  more  than 
they  paid  the  wheat  growers.  Flour  and  other  wheat  prod- 
ucts advance  to  correspond  with  this  top  price  of  wheat, 
and  the  wheat  grower  buys  back  what  he  needs  on  that 
basis.  City  union  labor  demands  higher  wages  on  account  of 
dear  bread.  The  wages  are  granted  and  added  to  the  price 
of  every  article  the  wheat  grower  buys.     The  general  public 


26  FARMERS'  UNION  AND  FEDERATION 

does  not  get  the  benefit  of  the  low  price  of  wheat  paid  the 
producers  of  it.  Now,  the  question  is,  would  it  not  be  better 
for  the  general  public,  city  union  labor,  and  most  everyone 
else,  were  the  wheat  growers  to  unionize  and  take  to  them- 
selves as  their  wages  and  expenses  the  millions  made  by  the 
gamblers  and  speculators  in  wheat  on  the  board  of  trade? 
Then  it  would  be  invested  in  better  wages,  improvements, 
machinery  and  in  other  ways  to  make  farming  successful 
and  desirable. 

Will  it  pay  the  wheat  raisers  to  unionize  to  secure  and  in- 
vest those  millions  for  themselves  to  better  their  condition? 
Well,  I  guess  it  would.  Why  not  go  after  them,  you  wheat 
raisers,  by  unionizing  for  that  purpose? 

Reimbursement  for  Lost  Labor  and  Capital. 

In  placing  the  minimum  price  on  wheat,  the  wheat  grow- 
ers' union  would  set  it  to  not  only  cover  the  cost  of  the 
bumper  crop,  but  to  cover  the  loss  in  wages,  interest  and 
expenses  of  the  poor  crop,  and  that  of  the  total  failure  also. 
In  no  other  way  can  the  grower  be  reimbursed  for  the  loss 
he  now  must  stand  on  crop  failures.  No  other  class  of 
laborers  are  required  to  stand  the  loss  of  their  labor;  why 
should  the  wheat  raiser  be  required  to  stand  his? 

City  union  laborers  get  their  wage's  though  their  work  be 
destroyed  by  the  elements  to  the  extent  of  billions  of  dollars. 
Doctors  and  lawyers  get  their  fee  though  they  lose  their 
case.  The  wheat  grower  likewise,  to  be  upon  an  equality 
with  them,  should  add  his  loss  by  the  elements  in  wages  and 
expenses  on  crop  failures  in  computing  the  minimum  wheat 
price.  This  would  act  as  an  insurance  against  loss  by  the 
wheat  growers  caused  by  the  elements  such  as  hail,  drought, 
floods,  storms,  lightning,  rust,  freezing,  etc.,  and  by  insects 
such  as  the  chinch  bug,  hessian  fly,  green  bug,  grasshopper, 
etc. 


ADVOCA TE  AND  GUIDE.  27 

Wheat  growers,  wouldn't  it  tickle  you  most  to  death  to 
have  your  wheat  insured  against  all  these  calamities  with- 
out a  dollar  for  the  insurance?  Well,  you  can  have  it  by 
unionizing  and  collecting  it  through  the  minimum  price  of 
what  you  sell.     Will  it  pay  to  unionize? 

Prevent  Capital  Leaving  the  Farms. 

The  insurance  idea  just  discussed  would  not  only  give  the 
wheat  growers  a  larger  working  capital,  but  prevent  what 
little  they  have  leaving  the  farm  for  more  profitable  invest- 
ments. Not  getting  any  interest  on  their  investments  on 
the  farm  those  who  happen  to  get  a  little  money  to  spare 
are  loaning  it,  or  investing  it  in  any  kind  of  a  wildcat  scheme 
whose  agents  first  come  around.  They  think  it  as  safe  and 
as  sure  of  returns  as  investing  it  in  farming  enterprises,  such 
as  modernizing  the  home  and  equipping  the  farm  with  other 
good  buildings  and  up-to-date  implements.  But  with  the 
insurance  against  loss  of  capital  and  interest  invested  on  the 
farm  through  the  minimum  price  system,  it  would  be  safe 
and  sane  to  invest  it  in  such  improvements. 

If  wheat  growers  wish  their  business  to  be  safe  and  sane 
they  will  unionize  to  make  it  so. 

Union  to  Own  All  Elevators. 

When  the  wheat  growers  are  unionized  they  should  own 
all  elevators  in  the  principal  wheat-raising  States  and  build 
or  buy  terminal  elevators  and  wheat-storage  granaries  at 
grain  centers  and  seaports.  That  will  give  them  an  invest- 
ment outlet  for  any  surplus  cash  they  may  have  for  a  while. 
Those  elevators  will  be  needed  in  the  business  of  placing  the 
wheat  on  the  market  at  distributing  centers  and  for  export. 

It  is  contemplated  the  national  executive  of  the  wheat 
growers'  union  will  control  the  price  of  wheat  until  it  is  in 
the  hands  of  the  millers,  thus  eliminating  boards  of  trade 
gamblers,  speculators  and  profiteerers  in  wheat.     The  union 


28  FARMERS'  UNION  AND  FEDERATION 

will  not  speculate  in  wheat,  but  always  sell  it  at  the  mini- 
mum price  paid  growers  plus  only  handling,  transportation 
and  storage  charges.  Then  none  will  buy  wheat  for  specula- 
tion, as  they  will  know  none  would  buy  it  at  a  profit  to  them 
when  it  can  be  had  from  the  growers  without  profit. 

The  present  farmers'  union  elevators  and  farmers'  co- 
operative elevators  can  be  used  by  the  wheat  growers' 
union,  but  on  a  different  plan.  The  wheat  raisers  would  be 
paid  all  that  is  due  them  for  the  wheat  as  they  brought  it  in, 
instead  of  holding  a  portion  of  it  back  to  give  them  at  the 
end  of  the  year  as  interest  and  dividends.  That  plan  would 
prevent  the  building  and  operation  of  several  elevators  in  a 
town  when  one  could  take  care  of  the  business,  and  thus  save 
supporting  the  surplus  ones.  I  have  been  informed  that  in 
some  places  where  the  farmers' .  union  elevators  overbid 
other  local  elevators  for  the  wheat,  they  can't  get  as  good 
bids  for  it  from  the  buyers'  monopoly  as  their  competitors 
can.  But  with  the  wheat  growers  themselves  monopolizing 
the  price  of  wheat,  it  will  put  all  other  price  manipulators 
out  of  business.  This  plan  would  appeal  to  all  present  union 
elevator  companies  as  a  much  better  plan  on  which  to  run 
their  elevators  if  they  are  wheat  growers. 

To  Publish  a  Daily  Wheat-trade  Bulletin. 

Another  necessary  adjunct  to  the  union  will  be  a  daily 
wheat-trade  bulletin  to  keep  the  members  informed  daily  of 
true  conditions  in  the  wheat  line  everywhere,  and  the  mini- 
mum price  in  their  district,  so  that  all  will  know  the  price 
they  should  receive,  and  of  any  other  matters  of  special  in- 
terest to  them.  This  is  a  very  important  thing  to  do  once 
they  are  unionized.  Accurate  and  dependable  information 
will  be  of  great  value  to  them.  Through  it  they  can  also 
keep  in  touch  with  their  various  officials  and  executive  heads 
and  receive  suggestions  and  instructions  from  them. 

Each  unionized  product  should  publish  a  bulletin  for  their 
members. 


ADVOCATE  AND  GUIDE.  29 

Union  to  Establish  Sales  Agencies. 

When  the  national  wheat  growers'  union  is  organized, 
they  will  take  over  the  entire  business  of  storing,  distribut- 
ing, and  selhng  their  wheat.  That  will  give  employment  for 
lots  of  their  surplus  cash  and  some  of  their  sons  and  daugh- 
ters. Territory  will  be  divided  up  into  districts  and  sales- 
men provided  for  each  with  samples  and  price  lists,  and 
orders  taken  as  other  producing  and  distributing  concerns 
do.  Sales  agencies  will  be  established  in  all  large  cities  and 
in  foreign  wheat-importing  countries.  These  agencies  will 
supersede  the  exchanges  and  boards  of  trade,  in  so  far  as 
they  deal  in  wheat,  and  will  put  them  out  of  business  in 
that  product.  Since  those  institutions  have  cheated  you 
wheat  growers  out  of  billions  of  dollars,  you  should  take  a 
delight  in  taking  your  business  from  them  and  tending  to  it 
yourselves.     Your  own  sons  and  daughters  can  do  that. 

Surplus  Carried  Over  to  Famine  Years. 

As  it  has  been  established  by  records  that  a  few  good 
crops  are  generally  followed  by  very  poor  ones,  prudence 
would  dictate  that  the  surplus  supplies  should  be  carried 
over  in  such  cases.  This  course  would  be  provided  for  by 
the  union,  so  that  prices  would  not  dechne  much  in  the  one 
case  nor  advance  too  high  in  the  other.  This  arrangement 
would  be  best  for  all  parties,  and  a  great  improvement  over 
the  boards  of  trade  methods.  It  would  go  a  long  ways  in 
justifying  unionizing. 

Union  to  Employ  Expert  Wheat  Statisticians. 

One  great  advantage  in  unionizing  would  be  the  ability  to 
employ  an  expert  wheat  statistician  to  gather  correct  in- 
formation on  the  world's  production  and  requirements  of 
wheat,  its  monthly  condition  and  supplies  in  all  countries, 
and  relative  prices.     A  summary  of  world  information  on 


30  FARMERS'  UNION  AND  FEDERATION 

wheat  could  be  given  weekly  or  monthly  through  the  bul- 
letm  to  the  wheat  growers.  The  union's  price-making 
boards  would  partly  base  the  yearly  minimum  price  on  this 
expert  knowledge  of  world  conditions.  Their  advisory  board 
would  give  the  growers  expert  advice  on  the  raising,  care  of? 
storage,  when  and  what  amount  to  deliver,  and  other  valu- 
able information.  It  would  be  a  great  consolation  and  ad- 
vantage to  the  growers  to  have  this  information  and  advice 
from  their  own  officers,  knowing  they  could  rely  on  it. 

Another  advantage  in  unionizing  would  be  the  ability  to 
send  agents  to  the  peoples  who  do  not  eat  wheat  bread,  to 
establish  instruction  schools  in  the  milling  of  wheat  and 
making  and  baking  of  the  flour  into  its  many  varieties  of 
edibles  to  increase  the  demand  for  wheat. 

Wheat  producers :  Wouldn't  it  be  a  good  plan  for  you  to 
unionize  so  you  could  attend  to  your  own  business  of  pric- 
ing and  marketing  your  wheat  through  your  own  agencies? 
There  is  fifty  to  one  hundred  per  cent  more  wages  in  it  for 
you  than  to  leave  this  most  important  business  to  others  to 
attend  to. 

The  present  system  of  farmers'  union  elevators  can  only 
follow  the  wheat  price  up  or  down,  but  can  do  nothing  to 
control  the  national  or  international  wheat  market.  That 
is  left  for  the  speculators  on  the  boards  of  trade  to  do.  This 
plan  of  unionizing  to  adopt  the  minimum  price  system  is  to 
take  over  the  control  of  the  market. 

Aid  "Stay  on  the  Farm"  Slogan. 

People  may  shout  the  slogan  ''Stay  on  the  farm"  until 
they  burst  their  wind-pipes,  but  until  the  wheat  growers 
unionize  to  enable  them  to  set  and  obtain  a  price  that  will 
return  as  good  wages  and  interest  on  investments  as  city 
industries  pay,  it  will  be  in  vain.  Money  will  go  where  it 
will  be  safest  and  get  the  best  returns.  The  smartest  sons 
and  daughters  will  continue  to  go  to  the  cities  where  wages 


ADVOCATE  AND  GUIDE.  31 

and  working  conditions  are  much  better  than  on  the  farms. 
You  wheat  growers  are  the  only  ones  who  have  the  power, 
if  you  will  unionize,  to  make  conditions  on  your  farms  so 
desirable  in  good  wages  and  living  conditions  that  you  can 
not  only  keep  your  children  on  the  farm,  but  win  back 
many  of  those  who  left  it  to  seek  those  things  elsewhere. 

Will  it  pay  you  to  unionize  to  make  your  homes  and 
farms  more  desirable  to  your  children  than  the  cities?  It  is 
for  you  wheat  growers,  who  alone  have  that  power,  to  say 
what  you  will  do.  All  other  professions,  business  and  city 
union  labor  have  so  increased  their  wages,  salaries  and  profits 
through  unionizing  that  they  can  keep  their  children  in 
schools,  colleges  and  universities  until  they  are  of  age  and 
prepared  to  go  into  business  of  their  own,  or  to  take  the 
soft  snaps  at  high  salaries.  By  unionizing  farmers  can  give 
their  children  the  same  chance. 

Farmers'  Children  to  be  College  Educated. 

Some  wheat  raisers  object  to  giving  their  children  a  col- 
lege education,  even  when  able,  because  they  are  then  lost 
to  the  farm,  taking  no  interest  in  it  afterwards.  That  is 
because  they  are  offered  much  better  wages*  and  working 
conditions  in  the  cities  than  the  farm  can  offer  them  under 
present  methods.  By  unionizing  and  taking  over  the  selling 
business,  those  conditions  could  be  reversed  for  the  educated 
farmers'  children.  Then  they  could  make  their  applied 
knowledge  and  labor  as  remunerative  in  raising  wheat  as  in 
other  industries  and  business.  Tens  of  thousands  of  them 
could  be  given  employment  by  the  wheat  growers'  union  as 
elevator  operators,  wheat  salesmen,  central  distributing 
clerks,  foreign  representatives,  bookkeepers,  accountants, 
stenographers,  etc. 

Of  course,  all  that  would  require  millions  of  dollars  to 
give  them  as  good  wages  as  such  positions  now  pay,  but  it 
would  be  added  to  the  price  of  wheat  as  now,  and  collected 


32  FARMERS'  UNION  AND  FEDERATION 

as  part  of  the  expenses  in  the  minimum  price.  The  differ- 
ence would  be  that  the  wheat  growers  were  giving  their 
children  employment  and  retaining  their  interest  and  serv- 
ices in  the  wheat  business. 

Will  it  pay  you  wheat  raisers  to  unionize  to  enable  you  to 
give  your  children  a  college  education  and  still  retain  their 
interest,  labor  and  acquired  knowledge  for  the  farm?  It  is 
for  you  to  say. 

Farmers'  Wives  Released  from  Drudgery. 

Women  everywhere  are  beginning  to  shun  the  farm  for  the 
better  opportunities  and  more  comfortable  homes  of  the 
cities.  Some  women  refuse  to  marry  farmers  unless  they 
will  give  up  the  farm  for  a  city  home.  This  growing  preju- 
dice against  rural  homes  will  become  greater  every  year  until 
conditions  are  improved  equal  to  that  of  the  cities.  That 
can  never  be  done  until  the  farmers  get  higher  wages  for 
their  labor  and  investments. 

The  wheat  growers'  union  will  remedy  all  that  on  the 
wheat  farms  by  collecting  through  the  minimum  price  of 
wheat  wages  for  the  producer  that  will  enable  him  to  sup- 
port his  wife  without  her  working  at  all.  The  wives  of  doc- 
tors, lawyers,  tradesmen,  and  even  city  union  laborers,  are 
not  obliged  to  work  for  their  living.  Why  should  the  wives 
of  wheat  growers  be  required  to  do  so?  It  is  simply  because 
the  wheat  producer  is  not  getting  an  equal  price  for  his 
labor  as  those  men,  and  consequently  is  unable  to  hire  house 
work  done  as  they  do.  Besides  doing  all  the  house  work, 
many  wives  of  wheat  producers  work  in  the  fields  three  or 
four  months  of  the  busy  season,  taking  the  place  of  a  hand 
they  are  unable  to  employ.  Such  wives  should  be  paid  the 
highest  union  labor  wages  in  cash  to  spend  as  they  please. 

Wheat  growers  should  unionize,  so  they  can  collect  enough 
for  their  services  to  enable  them  to  pay  for  help  as  other 
business  men  do,  and  dispense  with  free  wife  labor. 


ADVOCATE  AND  GUIDE.  33 

To  Modernize  the  Wheat  Growers'  Homes. 

Another  important  contrast  between  the  homes  of  wheat 
growers  and  of  city  business  and  professional  men  that  is 
causing  dissatisfaction  of  farmers'  wives  and  their  college 
educated  children,  is  the  lack  of  home  modernizing  on  the 
farms.  When  they  experience  once  the  comfort  and  con- 
venience of  a  city  modernized  dwelling  with  its  ever  ready 
electric  or  gas  lights,  furnace  heat,  hot  and  cold  water, 
inside  toilet,  bath,  electric  washer  and  wringer,  electric  iron 
and  fan,  etc.,  they  want  to  go  where  labor  and  service  are 
paid  so  well  people  can  afford  them. 

Why  not  bring  those  luxuries  and  comforts  to  the  wheat 
farms  and  satisfy  your  wives  and  children.  Of  course  you 
have  no  money  under  present  conditions  to  pay  for  them. 
But  those  conditions  can  be  changed  to  give  you  wheat 
growers  the  necessary  income  to  modernize  your  homes. 
The  only  way  you  can  change  them  is  to  unionize  to  fix  the 
price  of  your  wheat  high  enough  so  it  will  give  you  as  good 
wages  and  as  good  interest  on  your  investment  as  the  own- 
ers of  modernized  city  homes  get  for  theirs. 

It  is  up  to  you  to  unionize  for  this  reward  that  will  be  sure 
to  follow.  All  other  classes  of  business  and  most  of  the 
laborers  have  unionized  to  secure  good  wages  and  conditions. 
Why  not  you? 

Equalizing  Rural  and  Urban  Advantages. 

Owing  to  unionizing  both  business  and  labor  in  cities  to 
increase  their  income  and  enable  them  to  have  better  homes 
and  Hving  conditions,  the  urban  population  is  increasing 
over  three  times  as  fast  as  the  rural.  While  the  United 
States  census  for  1880  gave  the  total  population  as  50,155,783, 
divided  into  29.5  per  cent  urban  to  70.5  per  cent  rural,  the 
census  for  1910,  with  a  populatioxi  of  91,972,266,  the  urban 
per  cent  had  grown  to  46.3  and  the  rural  declined  to  53.7, 


34  FARMERS'  UNION  AND  FEDERATION 

and  this  included  villages  and  towns  up  to  2,5Q0  population. 
While  the  urban  population  increased  34.8  per  cent  from 
1900  to  1910,  the  rural  population  increased  only  11.2  per 
cent.  In  that  decade  the  total  population  increased  15,- 
977,691,  and  the  cities  above  2,500  got  seven-tenths  of  it  to 
three-tenths  for  the  rural.  Including  the  smaller  towns, 
55.1  per  cent  were  living  under  more  or  less  urban  conditions 
in  1910.  Nearly  one-tenth  of  the  total  population  lived  in 
the  three  cities  of  New  York,  Chicago  and  Philadelphia, 
while  22:1  per  cent  live  in  cities  of  over  100,000  population. 
Over  75  per  cent  of  the  people  of  five  States  live  in  cities, 
and  from  50  to  75  per  cent  in  cities  in  eight  other  States. 
This  proves  conclusively  that  returns  for  both  labor  and 
capital  are  far  better  in  cities  than  on  the  farms. 

There  is  only  one  way  to  equalize  the  advantages  and  stop 
this  ever  increasing  city  population  over  the  country  popu- 
lation :  that  is  to  unionize  and  go  after  more  wages  and  in- 
terest on  investment  as  they  do.  The  opportunity  is  yours. 
Will  you  wheat  growers  accept  it?     It  is  for  you  to  say. 

Smaller  Farms  Made  Possible. 

In  1870  there  were  only  3,400  farms  in  the  United  States 
containing  over  1,000  acres,  but  they  had  increased  to 
50,135  in  1910. 

Only  by  following  the  example  of  city  labor  and  business 
in  unionizing  for  more  wages  and  interest  can  the  wheat 
growers  make  it  possible  to  divide  up  their  farms  among 
their  children  to  keep  them  from  moving  to  the  cities.  As 
it  is  now,  it  requires  a  wheat  farm  of  640  acres  or  more  to 
keep  a  family  and  make  one  set  of  improvements,  when 
forty  to  eighty  acres  should  be  made  to  do  that.  But  only 
by  increasing  the  growers'  wages  and  interest  on  investment 
can  that  be  made  possible.  And  only  by  unionizing  to  set 
and  enforce  a  higher  wage  and  interest  through  the  mini- 
mum price  system  can  that  be  accomplished. 


ADVOCA TE  AND  GUIDE.  35 

The  present  effort  at  price-setting  on  farm  products  by  a 
city  paper  is  utterly  useless.  Only  by  a  national  union  of 
all  producers  of  each  product  separately,  and  operated  on 
the  same  plans  as  city  labor  unions,  can  they  succeed  in 
raising  and  maintaining  their  wages  and  interest  on  invest- 
ment. And  only  by  this  increase  can  smaller  farms  be  made 
possible  and  rural  population  made  to  keep  pace  with  the 
urban. 

Will  it  pay  you  wheat  growers  to  unionize  to  make  it 
possible  for  a  small  farm  to  make  a  living  and  a  modernized 
home  for  a  family  so  you  can  divide  up  your  big  wheat 
farm  among  your  children  as  they  marry  and  desire  homes 
of  their  own?  That  is  the  only  way  to  keep  them  from 
moving  to  the  city  for  employment. 

Defense  Against  Unionized  or  Predatory  Capital. 

Under  this  caption  I  shall  take  the  opportunity  to  sound 
a  warning  that  it  is  within  the  possibilities  of  the  compara- 
tively near  future  when  unionized  or  predatory  capital  will 
take  over  the'  wheat-producing  business  out  of  individual 
hands  as  it  did  manufacturing,  transportation,  communica- 
tion, butchering,  and  many  other  industries  carried  on  once 
by  individual  owners.  That  it  has  not  been  done  is  because 
more  could  be  made  by  speculating  in  wheat  than  in  raising 
it,  or  in  other  business.  However,  it  is  being  done  now  on 
a  small  experimental  scale. 

In  this  and  other  countries  large  tracts  of  cheap  wheat 
land  is  being  bought  up  and  managers  put  on  them.  By 
using  great  tractors  and  other  wheat-farming  machinery, 
and  the  cheapest  of  unorganized  seasonal  labor,  with  no 
improvements  to  make  or  families  to  keep  the  year  round  on 
the  land,  they  can  make  expenses  and  good  interest  on  a 
much  lower  wheat  price  than  can  be  done  on  individual 
small  farms.  This  is  competition  wheat  that  the  wheat 
growers'  union  should  use  their  political  power  to  put  out  of 


36  FARMERS'  UNION  AND  FEDERATION 

business,  by  putting  through  a  federal  law  limiting  the  num- 
ber of  acres  one  man  or  company  may  raise  wheat  on  to 
160  acres,  or  any  number  the  union  agrees  upon  by  a  ref- 
erendum vote. 

Will  it  pay  you  wheat  growers  to  unionize  so  you  can  use 
your  political  power  for  self-protection  against  unionized 
capital  that  is  forcing  you  to  compete  with  unorganized 
pauper  labor  in  the  production  of  wheat?  It  is  for  you  to 
say. 

Defense  Against  City  Unionized  Labor. 

It  is  as  necessary  and  important  for  wheat  growers  to 
unionize  for  self-protection  against  city  union  labor  as 
against  capital.  Capital  unionized  first  to  control  legisla- 
tion in  its  favor  and  to  dictate  wages,  conditions  and  terms 
to  labor.  Then  labor  had  to  unionize  for  self-protection. 
For  years  a  titanic  economic  and  political  battle  has  been 
waged  almost  continually  between  them  for  mastery.  One 
uses  the  lockout  and  the  other  the  strike  as  weapons.  Both 
sides  are  in  politics  for  favorable  laws  and  to  prevent  un- 
favorable ones.  The  government's  greatest  concern  is  to 
get  both  parties  to  agree  to  an  armistice,  or  truce,  during  the 
great  world- war.  Many  times  each  side  has  won  local  vic- 
tories, and  many  times  the  government  has  been  obliged  to 
take  part  to  adjust  their  differences.  Both  sides  at  times 
appeal  for  government  protection  of  armed  force.  When 
employers  are  forced  to  surrender  and  increase  wages  and 
expense  of  operating  they  promptly  add  it  to  the  price  of 
their  goods  or  service,  and  the  wheat  grower  pays  his  part 
of  it  in  the  advanced  cost  of  lumber,  coal,  flour,  machinery, 
groceries,  dry  goods,  freight,  car  fare,  and  everything  else 
he  and  his  family  buy.  Now  he  has  only  one  method  of 
self-defense  against  this  continual  advance  in  city  union 
labor  wages,  and  that  is  to  unionize  and  promptly  add  it  to 
his  minimum  wheat  price. 


ADVOCATE  AND  GUIDE.  37 

Mr.  Wheat  Grower,  when  you  have  to  pay  double  price 
for  all  you  buy,  wouldn't  it  please  you  to  be  able  to  double 
the  price  of  your  wheat?  You  can  do  it -by  unionizing. 
Others  unionize  to  double  their  wages.     Why  not  you? 

Save  Mortgaging  the  Farm. 

The  business  of  wheat  raising  should  be  made  to  pay  its 
own  way  without  having  to  mortgage  the  farm  for  improve- 
ments or  anything  the  family  needs,  even  to  an  automobile ; 
and  it  would  do  it  if  the  price  was  high  enough  to  cover 
skilled  wages  and  interest  on  money  invested. 

The  U.  S.  census  shows  a  steady  increase  in  number  of 
farms  mortgaged,  until  over  one-third  of  them  were  mort- 
gaged in  1910.  The  big  wheat  States  have  the  highest  per 
cent  of  mortgaged  farms — 48  per  cent.  There  is  something 
radically  wrong  with  a  producing  business  when  half  the 
plants  will  not  pay  expenses  and  have  to  be  mortgaged.  No 
wonder  people  leave  such  a  condition  for  the  city  to  seek 
work  where  wages  are  better.  Shout  ''Back  to  the  farm" 
until  you  are  hoarse,  but  people  with  good  sense  who  have 
been  there  are  not  going  back  until  conditions  are  changed 
for  the  better.  When  they  can  make  better  wages  raising 
wheat,  and  get  as  big  interest  on  investments,  and  can  afford 
as  good  living  conditions  as  in  cities,  they  will  go  back  to 
the  farm  without  coaxing. 

Then  the  proper  thing  is  to  quit  shouting  ''Back  to  the 
farm, "  and  make  conditions  there  so  profitable  and  attract- 
ive people  will  choose  farming  to  anything  else.  You  wheat 
raisers  who  have  followed  me  so  far,  need  not  be  told  again 
how  you  can  do  that  to  save  the  necessity  of  mortgaging 
the  farm,  and  win  back  your  children  who  have  deserted  you. 

But  your  State  and  National  misrepresentatives  will  tell 
you  the  remedy  for  farm  desertion,  tenantry  and  mortgages 
is  more  mortgages.  So  they  consulted  the  bankers,  and  to- 
gether they  devised  the   Federal   Farm   Loan  Act.     The 


38  FARMERS'  UNION  AND  FEDERATION 

second  annual  report  of  the  Farm  Loan  Board  is  declared  to 
be  one  of  ''evident  progress"  because  of  so  many  loans  to 
farmers,  and  is  discussed  under  a  Washington  date  as  fol- 
lows: 

''Washington,  Dec.  31. — Increase  in  the  lending  power  of  federal 
land  banks  and  the  grant  of  authority  for  them  to  write  fire  insurance 
on  farm  property  were  advocated  by  the  Farm  Loan  Board  in  its  annual 
report  submitted  today  to  Congress.  Modification  of  the  Federal  Farm 
Loan  Act  so  as  to  make  the  minimum  loan  $500  instead  of  $100,  and 
maximum  loans  $25,000  instead  of  $10,000,  also  was  urged. 

"The  report,  which  was  the  second  made  by  the  Board,  was  described 
as  covering  '  the  first  year  of  operation '  of  the  farm  loan  system,  the  first 
year  of  the  Board  being  spent  in  organizing.  The  year  was  one  of  very 
evident  progress,  declared  the  report,  which  contained  a  table  showing 
that  farm  loan  associations  increased  from  1,839  to  3,439  during  the 
year ;  that  the  capital  of  the  twelve  federal  land  banks  increased  from 
$10,488,230  to  $16,250,285 ;  that  loans  in  force  increased  from  $29,- 
816,304  to  $140,004,439 ;  that  joint  stock  land  banks  increased  from 
four  to  nine,  and  that  their  loans  now  amount  to  $7,380,734,  and  that 
interest  rates  on  the  land  banks  was  5  or  53^  per  cent,  and  that  of  stock 
land  banks  was  6  per  cent.  Interesting  information  as  to  the  applica- 
tions by  borrowers  of  loans  from  the  banks  was  given  in  a  detailed  state- 
ment, dealing  with  about  one-third  of  all  the  loans  closed  by  the  banks. 
This  statement  showed  that  8  per  cent  of  the  proceeds  of  the  loans  were 
used  to  buy  land ;  10  per  cent  for  buildings  and  improvements ;  60  per 
cent  to  pay  off  existing  mortgages ;  10  per  cent  for  payment  of  other 
debts ;  5  per  cent  for  purchase  of  bank  stocks ;  4  per  cent  for  purchase 
of  livestock,  and  3  per  cent  for  implements  and  equipment.  'The  loan- 
ing of  over  $150,000,000  has  been  of  distinct  and  direct  benefit  to  more 
than  64,000  borrowers,'  declared  the  report,  'and  has  been  of  indirect 
benefit  to  every  applicant  for  a  farm  loan  through  private  agencies. 
While  the  loans  made  by  federal  land  banks  in  the  last  year  probably 
represent  only  about  one-eighth  of  the  total  loans  made  by  all  agencies, 
they  are  far  greater  than  any  other  single  agency.  Another  illustration 
is  therefore  afforded  of  the  truth  that  a  market  can  be  usually  controlled 
by  one  large  buyer  or  seller,  if  all  the  rest  of  the  buying  and  selHng  is 
split  up  into  small  lots.'  Despite  the  large  production  and  high  prices, 
net  returns  of  agriculture  in  the  1918  crop  year  'was  much  less  than  is 
popularly  supposed,'  declared  the  report,  which  explained  that  big 
profits  were  eliminated  by  the  scarcity  of  farm  labor,  its  high  cost,  as 
also  that  of  fertilizers,  implements  and  machinery." 


ADVOCATE  AND  GUIDE.  39 

If  this  institution  loaned  only  one-eighth,  then  the  farmers 
borrow  $1,050,000,000  annually.  But  if  60  per  cent  of  this 
goes  to  pay  off  previous  mortgages,  they  still  went  in  the 
hole  $420,000,000  on  their  year's  product. 

Farmers  should  unionize  to  raise  their  wages  through  the 
minimum  price  system  until  they  can  decrease  their  mort- 
gages annually  instead  of  increasing  them. 

Government  for  Increased  Yield,  not  Price. 

All  the  effort  the  government,  state  or  county  has  made 
to  aid  the  wheat  grower  has  for  its  single  object  an  increased 
yield.  Not  a  plan  or  suggestion,  much  less  aid,  is  offered  or 
provided  to  increase  the  price.  That  is  because  the  govern- 
ment is  controlled  by  the  organized  classes  who  desire  ever 
dechning  prices  for  farm  products. 

When  prices  decline  to  where  products  are  not  worth 
hauling  to  market  after  being  raised,  the  agricultural  colleges, 
farm  experiment  stations  and  county  farm  agents  '^  point 
with  pride"  to  the  grand  results  they  have  achieved  and  ask 
for  more  state  and  national  appropriations  to  continue  them 
in  the  good  work  of  reducing  prices  through  overproduction. 

It  is  a  great  benefit  to  the  captains  of  industry  to  have 
their  laborers  fed  free  by  the  farmers  so  they  will  not  have 
that  excuse  to  ask  for  higher  wages.  But  the  wheat  grower 
has  learned  by  bitter  experience  that  it  is  more  to  his  interest 
to  raise  ten  bushels  per  acre  for  one  dollar  a  bushel  than 
twenty  bushels  for  fifty  cents  a  bushel,  and  no  one  can  con- 
vince him  it  isn't.  Until  they  come  with  a  plan  that  will 
insure  as  much  per  bushel  for  a  big  yield  as  a  poor  yield 
they  need  not  come  to  the  wheat  grower  at  all.  But  I  am 
a  fellow  wheat  grower,  and  come  to  them  with  a  plan  that 
will  do  that  very  thing,  and  a  plan  no  government  agency 
will  ever  bring  them.  I  ask  them  to  examine  it  and  try  it 
out  if  it  appeals  to  their  best  judgment. 


40  FARMERS'  UNION  AND  FEDERATION 

Another  very  important  matter  is  to  have  practical  and 
representative  farmers  in  the  state  and  national  agricultural 
departments,  to  head  agricultural  colleges,  county  farm  bu- 
reaus, etc.  It  is  the  height  of  absurdity  and  misrepresenta- 
tion to  fill  those ,  positions  with  men  who  are  not  farmers, 
never  were,  but  who  are  interested  only  in  big  production 
and  little  price. 

Only  through  unionizing  can  farmers  develop  able,  cap- 
able, authoritative  representatives  in  their  own  unions,  and 
have  the  pohtical  power  to  put  them  in  those  places  to  rep- 
resent them.  This  is  supposed  to  be  a  representative  form  of 
government  for  all  its  citizens.  But  how  can  it  be  when 
over  one-half  are  unrepresented? 

Protection  Against  Government  Discrimination. 

Our  government,  like  all  others,  is  controlled  by  classes, 
always  has  been  and  always  will  be.  He  who  says  it  is  not 
is  fooling  himself  or  trying  to  fool  others.  Organized  classes 
generally  get  what  they  want  from  Congress  if  they  put  in 
by  their  votes  a  lot  of  Congressmen  from  their  class  to  plead 
their  cause  and  vote  for  what  they  want  in  the  way  of  legis- 
lation, or  investigating,  or  trade  commissions.  Therefore,  it 
is  up  to  the  farmers  to  become  class  conscious  and  protect 
their  class  interest  by  organizing  to  nominate  and  vote  for 
people  of  their  own  union  to  represent  them  in  Legislatures 
and  Congress. 

The  farmers,  not  having  become  class  conscious,  are  the 
greatest  unorganized  class,  and  always  aid  by  their  votes  to 
put  in  office  the  representatives  of  other  classes  whose  in- 
terests are  opposed  to  their  own.  That  is  why  they  get  no 
favorable  laws  for  their  class.  They  are  the  goat ;  but  it  is 
their  own  fault.  They  should 'unionize  as  capital  and  city 
labor  has  done. 

When  capital  fails  to  get  what  it  wants  it  closes  its  pocket- 
book,   and  Congress  comes  across  with  the  laws.     When 


ADVOCATE  AND  GUIDE.  41 

union  labor  fails  to  get  what  it  wants  it  strikes,  and  Congress, 
the  President,  and  everybody  else  promptly  comes  across 
with  its  demands.  Note  the  case  of  the  Big  Four  Railroad 
Brotherhoods  in  1917  getting  what  they  wanted  by  a  threat 
to  strike. 

When,  the  first  time  in  the  memory  of  wheat  growers  they 
were  getting  a  fair  price,  with  prospects  of  it  being  continued 
during  the  war,  the  government  sat  up  and  took  notice  of 
them  and  promptly  knocked  a  dollar  a  bushel  off  the  price 
and  prohibited  it  coming  up  again. 

Had  the  wheat  growers  of  the  United  States  been  union- 
ized and  some  of  their  members  in  Congress,  the  head  of- 
ficials of  their  union  would  have  been  called  in  for  consulta- 
tion before  taking  any  action,  like  union  labor  officials  were 
on  wages.  These  would  have  made  such  good  pleaders  for 
fair  pric'es  to  wheat  growers  that  prices  would  have  been 
raised  instead  of  lowered,  especially  had  their  pleading  been 
backed  up  with  the  wheat  growers  union  ready  to  go  on  a 
concerted  non-delivery  strike  were  fair  demands  of  their  of- 
ficials ignored. 

Where  union  wages  were  lowered  a  strike  brought  them 
up  again.  In  most  instances  wages  were  increased.  In 
loyalty  to  the  government  and  patriotism  the  wheat  growers 
are  the  equal  of  any  class.  But  it  is  unfair  to  make  them  the 
goat  to  bear  the  sins  of  unionized  capital  and  labor  both. 

When  wheat  prices  were  forced  down  by  speculators  be- 
low forty  cents  to  the  grower,  and  thousands  of  them  lost 
their  farms  and  other  property,  the  government  did  not  come 
to  their  aid  by  enforcing  a  fair  price.  Seeing  that  your  only 
hope  is  in  self-aid,  like  other  unionized  classes,  you  wheat 
growers  should  unionize  also  to  protect  and  defend  your 
rights  and  interests.  Had  the  government  knocked  two 
dollars  off  the  wheat  price  instead  of  one  you  would  have 
stood  it  because,  not  being  organized,  you  were  absolutely 


42  FARMERS'  UNION  AND  FEDERATION 

helpless  and  at  the  mercy  of  the  government  or  any  specu- 
lators that  conclude  to  take  your  wheat  at  any  price  they 
choose  to  give  you. 

Do  you  intend  to  remain  such  a  helpless  class,  when  by 
unionizing  you  will  have  such  great  power? 

American  Federation  of  Farmers. 

While  the  wheat  growers'  union  would  look  after  all  mat- 
ters for  the  wheat  growers  exclusively,  it  would  be  a  mem- 
ber of  the  American  Federation  of  Farmers  to  look  after  the 
political  and  economic  interests  of  all  unionized  farmers 
generally,  as  the  American  Federation  of  Labor  does  for  all 
unionized  classes  of  laborers  in  the  federation.  This  would 
make  the  farmers  the  most  powerful  factor  in  our  govern- 
ment, owing  to  their  numbers,  instead  of  the  weakest.  If 
the  wheat  growers  will  lead  the  way  there  would  probably 
be  a  score  or  two  of  other  farm  products  unionize  in  a  short 
time.  All  producers  who  raise  for  sale  cotton,  corn,  oats? 
barley,  rye,  broom  corn,  alfalfa,  hay,  cattle,  hogs,  horses, 
mules,  sheep,  poultry,  potatoes,  sweet  potatoes,  cabbage, 
apples,  peaches,  grapes,  strawberries,  butter,  eggs,  etc., 
should  unionize  separately  to  fix  and  enforce  a  minimum 
price  on  their  special  product.  Then  all  such  unions  should 
join  the  American  Federation  of  Farmers  to  protect  their 
common  interests  against  the  encroachments  of  unionized 
and  nationalized  labor,  capital,  bankers,  manufacturers,  rail- 
roads, lumber,  coal,  and  scores  of  trusts,  syndicates,  and 
monopolies.  Each  farmer  should  be  a  member  of  all  union- 
ized products  he  raises  for  sale.  They  should  then  elect 
members  from  their  own  number  to  State  Legislatures  and 
to  Congress.  In  a  government  ruled  by  organized  classes 
the  unorganized  classes  get  no  consideration. 

Then  farmers  should  unionize  to  use  their  great  latent 
power. 


ADVOCATE  AND  GUIDE.  43 

Lower  Prices  to  Consumers. 

From  the  preceding  article  some  consumers  might  get  the 
impression  that  to  enforce  a  better  price  to  farmers  would 
require  raising  it  to  the  consumer ;  but  it  would  not  neces- 
sarily have  that  effect.  It  would  mean  lessening  the  great 
difference  between  the  price  the  consumer  now  pays  and 
what  the  farmer  gets — a  part  going  to  each.  For  instance, 
an  article  that  the  farmer  how  gets  one  dollar  for  costs  the 
consumer  four  dollars,  leaving  three  dollars,  which  could  be 
divided  by  three,  giving  the  farmer  one  dollar  more,  the  con- 
sumer one  dollar  less,  leaving  one  dollar  for  legitimate  busi- 
ness, and  the  speculator  and  profiteerer  eliminated.  It  would 
tend  to  increase  both  production  and  consumption  to  thus 
divide  between  them  the  great  difference  in  prices  now  pre- 
vailing. It  should  never  cost  half  as  much  to  distribute 
products  as. to  produce  them. 

Were  the  producers  of  all  farm  products  unionized  they 
could  aid  greatly  in  the  distribution  of  their  products,  and 
by  using  their  influence  to  induce  the  government  to  take 
over  and  operate  all  public  utilities  would  further  lessen  cost 
of  distribution. 

With  so  much  to  be  gained  by  unionizing,  no  class  of  farm 
products  should  long  remain  unorganized  after  the  wheat 
growers  demonstrate  that  it  can  be  done. 

Dependable  Expert  Advice. 
Wheat  growers  are  often  advised  to  act  against  their  in- 
terest to  the  advantage  of  conflicting  interest,  thus  aiding 
speculators  to  beat  them  out  of  their  wheat.  The  advisory 
board  of  their  union,  composed  of  their  owti  members,  would 
study  their  interest  from  every  angle  on  all  matters  pertain- 
ing to  the  raising,  care,  storage,  grading,  marketing,  etc.,  of 
wheat.  They  would  be  advised  how  best  to  not  only  raise 
the  largest  possible  yield  but  how  to  sell  it  without  lowering 
the  price.     They  could  rely  upon  this  advice  as  being  for 


44  FARMERS'  UNION  AND  FEDERATION 

their  best  interest.  As  it  is  now  they  cannot  know  whether 
the  advice  they  get  from  government  agencies  or  newspapers 
are  for  their  interest  or  for  others.  They  would  be  advised 
through  their  local  officers  or  daily  wheat  bulletin  when  to 
deliver  wheat  and  how  much,  and  when  to  cease  delivery  to 
keep  from  glutting  the  market  and  congesting  transporta- 
tion facilities,  and  to  maintain  a  stable  price.  This  expert 
and  dependable  advice  would  be  of  great  consolation  and 
aid  to  the  wheat  grower,  and  go  a  long  ways  in  justifying 
the  little  effort  necessary  to  unionize. 

When  wheat  growers  are  unionized  they  would  learn  to 
obey  their  head  officials,  as  other  union  labor  does,  when 
they  know  it  is  for  their  best  interests  to  do  so.  Some  prop- 
ositions could  be  left  to  a  vote  of  the  members  as  union  labor 
does.  Union  farmers  could  learn  much  of  interest  by  a 
study  of  union  labor  methods. 

Co-operation  Between  Land  Owner  and  Renter. 

Since  both  wages  and  interest  on  investments  depends  on 
the  price  of  wheat,  there  should  be  harmony  and  co-operation 
between  the  landowner  and  renter  to  secure  good  crops  and 
good  prices.  Both  should  be  members  of  the  union  to  work 
for  their  mutual  interests,  subject  to  the  laws  and  regula- 
tions of  the  union  on  membership  admission.  Both  should 
share  proportionately  in  the  price  of  wheat  according  to  the 
labor  and  money  each  has  invested,  and  both  gain  or  lose 
according  to  good  or  poor  crops  and  prices.  The  renter 
should  receive  the  same  rate  of  interest  on  money  invested 
in  seed,  teams,  labor,  machinery,  etc.,  that  the  landowner 
does  on  money  invested  in  the  land  and  improvements. 
Renters  could  not  continue  to  give  a  fixed  cash  rent  that 
crops  and  prices  would  not  justify.  Both  helping  to  keep 
the  price  up  to  cover  wages  and  interest  on  improvements 
would  justify  good,  convenient  and  necessary  improvements 
being  made  by  the  owner,  and  more  work  put  in  on  crops 
by  the  renter.     The  union  might  eventually  find  it  advisable 


ADVOCA TE  A  ND  GUIDE.  45 

to  require  of  owners  a  standardized  set  of  modernized  im- 
provements for  different  sized  farms,  and  of  the  renters  a 
standardized  amount  of  work  on  crops  and  care  of  farm  and 
improvements.  This  would  aid  greatly  in  building  up  and 
making  attractive  many  rented  farms  to  the  mutual  benefit 
of  owner  and  renter.  Labor  unions  generally  require  a 
certain  amount  and  quality  of  labor  performed  by  their 
members,  and  farm  unions  might  find  it  advisable  also. 

Division  Between  Renter  and  Land  Owner. 

There  are  often  disagreeable  disputes  between  renters 
and  owners  that  are  settled  by  law  to  the  dissatisfaction  of 
all  except  the  lawyers,  and  some  believe  their  interests  not 
the  same.  But  that  is  all  wrong,  as  co-operating  and  union- 
izing would  demonstrate.  The  union  might  find  it  agreeable 
to  both  owner  and  renter  to  prepare  a  standardized  lease 
prepared  by  a  commission  selected  by  owners  and  renters  of 
wheat  farms  to  do  justice  to  both  parties.  Arbitration 
courts  could  also  be  provided  to  settle  all  such  disagreements 
between  members  of  the  union.  While  the  union  should 
not  be  made  a  social  or  society  affair,  there  would  be  many 
good  acts  it  could  do  to  aid  the  wheat  growers  locally  and 
generally. 

As  a  general  proposition  the  owner  should  have  out  of  the 
wheat  price  a  good  interest  on  the  value  of  the  land  and  im- 
provements, taxes,  insurance,  per  cent  of  depreciation  of 
improvements  and  soil  fertility.  The  renter  should  have 
the  same  rate  of  interest  on  all  investments  for  farming 
equipment,  depreciation  of  same,  seed,  feed,  fertilizer,  skilled 
union  labor  wages  for  himself  and  any  members  of  his  family 
aiding,  or  others  employed,  and  all  expenses  for  harvesting, 
threshing  and  marketing,  etc. 

Both  landowner  and  renter  should  unite  in  the  wheat 
producers'  union  to  aid  in  maintaining  a  minimum  wheat 
price  that  will  pay  all  these  just  and  proper  expenses.     ^ 


46 


FARMERS'  UNION  AND  FEDERATION 


Fear  of  Overproduction. 

Even  with  fairly  good  prices  on  most  farm  products,  and 
the  prospects  of  some  of  them  continuing  until  the  war  ends? 
the  ever  present  nightmare  of  fear  of  overproduction  haunts 
the  farmers  who  remember  the  calamity  that  befell  them 
from  overproduction  of  farm  products  a  few  years  ago. 
Tens  of  thousands  were  broken  up,  and  many  had  to  seek 
work  in  cities  after  losing  their  all  from  raising  too  much. 
Think  of  the  monstrously  chaotic  condition  which  makes  it 
possible  for  producers  of  the  most  important  grain,  one  that 
can  be  kept  for  years,  bankrupting  themselves  through  pro- 
ducing good  crops.  It  disproves  all  the  finespun  philosophy 
of  our  ancestors  on  how  to  get  rich. 

The  old  advice  to  work  faster,  put  in  longer  days,  raise 
bigger  crops,  if  one  wishes  to  prosper  better  is  all  wrong,  and 
the  reverse  has  proven  more  successful,  as  statistics  on 
wheat  raising  will  prove. 

I  shall  give  a  few  sample  cases  from  the  Yearbook  of  the 
U.  S.  Department  of  Agriculture  of  February  8,  1918,  to 
prove  that  under  present  methods  of  pricing  wheat  it  pays 
better  to  put  in  fewer  acres,  get  a  smaller  yield  and  less 
bushels.  And  this  should  be  done  until  the  wheat  growers 
unionize  to  insure  themselves  against  loss  from  an  increased 
production. 

TABLE  I. 


Average 

Year 

Acreage 

Average 

Production 

Price 

Farm  Value 

Harvested 

Yield 

Dec.  1 

Dec.  1. 

1887 

37,642,000 

12.1 

456,329,000 

68.1 

.310,613,000 

1888 

37,336,000 

11.1 

415,868,000 

92.6 

385,248,000 

1889 

38,124,000 

12.9 

490,560,000 

69.8 

342,492,000 

1893 

34,629,000 

11.4 

396,132,000 

53.8 

213,171,000 

1894 

34,882,000 

13.2 

460,267,000 

49.1 

225,902,000 

1899 

44,593,000 

12.3 

547,304,000 

58.4 

319,545,000 

1900 

42,495,000 

12.3 

522,230,000 

61.9 

323,515,000 

1902 

46,222,000 

14:5 

670,063,000 

63.0 

422,224,000 

1903 

49,465,000 

12.9 

637,822,000 

60.5 

443,025,000 

1904 

44,075,000 

12.5 

552,400,000 

92.4 

510,490,000 

1905 

47,854,000 

14.5 

692,979,000 

74.8 

518,373,000 

1906 

47,306,000 

15.5 

735,261,000 

66.7 

490,333,000 

1907 

45,211,000 

14.0 

634,087,000 

87.4 

554,437,000 

ADVOCATE  AND  GUIDE. 


47 


The  foregoing  table  shows  a  decreased  value  following  an 
increased  acreage,  yield  per  acre  or  total  production  over 
that  of  the  year  before  or  the  year  following.     Thus  : 


TABLE  II. 


Increased 

Inc. 

Increased 

Loss 

Total 

Years 

Acreage 

Yield 

Production 

Per  Bu. 

Loss 

1887-8 

306,000 

1. 

40,461,000 

24.5 

$74,635,000 

1888-9 

788,000 

1.8 

74,692,000 

32.8 

42,756,000 

1893-4 

253,000 

1.8 

64,135,000 

4.7 

+  12,731,000 

1899-0 

2,098,000 

Same 

24,074,000 

4.5 

3,970,000 

1902-3 

-3,243,000 

1.6 

32,241,000 

+  2.5 

20,801,000 

1903-4 

5,390,000 

.4 

85,422,000 

31.9 

67,465,000 

1904-5 

3,779,000 

2. 

140,579,000 

27.6 

+7,883,000 

1905-6 

-518,000 

1. 

42,282,000 

8.1 

28,040,000 

1906-7 

2,095,000 

1.5 

101,174,000 

20.7 

64,104,000 

A  summary  of  the  above  pairs  show  that  by  increasing 
the  acreage,  or  the  yield,  or  both,  there  was  raised  605,080,000 
bushels  more  in  nine  years  than  in  the  others,  while  the 
wheat  growers  received  $281,157,000  less.  That  is,  they 
not  only  raised  and  gave  away  free  that  many  bushels  of 
wheat,  but  had  to  take  that  many  dollars  less  for  raising  it, 
as  compared  with  the  smaller  crops.  In  other  words,  the 
wheat  growers  actually  paid  over  46  cents  a  bushel  for  the 
joy  of  raising  605,080,000  to  donate  to  the  public.  No 
wonder  so  many  went  bankrupt.  They  could  not  afford 
such  generosity.  Nor  did  they  get  a  '' thank  you"  for  it, 
nor  a  five-cent  article  free  on  account  of  it.  Now,  that  is  not 
good  business. 

Union  city  labor  has  found  by  experience  that  it  is  more 
to  their  interest  to  shorten  the  day  and  increase  the  pay. 
Eight  hours  a  day  at  75  cents  an  hour  is  preferred  to  twelve 
at  40  cents.  The  wheat  raiser  should  follow  their  example 
and  unionize  and  elect  an  executive  board  to  direct  them. 

You  have  lost  hundreds  of  millions  of  dollars  by  not  un- 
ionizing, and  will  lose  billions  more  if  you  do  not.  You 
ought  to  be  able  to  see  that  it  will  pay  big  to  unionize. 


48  FARMERS'  UNION  AND  FEDERATION 

Personal  Experience  in  Overproduction. 

I  published  some  of  my  experience  in  overproduction  of 
farm  products  in  a  local  daily  and  had  it  printed  on  a  card 
to  mail  to  Congressmen  and  government  officials,  and  it 
may  be  of  interest  here : 

The  Tribune: 

"It  might  be  of  some  value  to  President  Wilson  and  other  govern- 
ment officials  seeking  the  cause  and  remedy  for  the  scarcity  and  high  cost 
of  farm  products  to  get  a  little  inside  first  hand  information  on  the  sub- 
ject from  an  ex-farmer. 

''  In  a  nutshell  the  cause  is  too  low  a  price  when  a  good  crop  is  raised 
and  ready  for  marketing.  The  remedy  is  to  unionize  the  producers  of 
each  product  into  a  separate  union  to  fix  in  advance  a  minimum  price 
on  it  at  maturing  time  and  a  gradual  monthly  increase  throughout  the 
coming  year.  The  minimum  price  to  be  based  on  overhead  expenses 
plus  skilled  union  wages  while  producing  it.  The  monthly  increased 
price  thereafter  to  be  based  on  cost  of  holding. 

"Now  for  personal  experience  in  detail : 

"Case  1.  Broom  Corn. — Seeing  broom-corn  quoted  at  $200.00  a 
ton  when  in  the  possession  of  the  speculators,  I  thought  there  would  be 
a  good  price  for  it  and  raised  a  crop.  But  I  found  quite  a  difference  in 
the  price  when  the  same  speculators  came  to  buy  it  of  the  producer,  when 
I  had  to  let  them  have  it  at  their  own  price  of  $25.00  a  ton.  I  then  and 
there  said  good  night  to  broom  corn,  and  never  would  plant  nor  allow  a 
seed  of  it  planted  on  my  farm  again. 

"  Case  2.  Cattle. — I  bought  a  few  cows  and  calves  with  the  intention 
of  raising  cattle  for  the  market,  thinking  I  could  in  that  way  utilize  my 
otherwise  waste  rough  feed  and  give  myself  and  family  remunerative 
employment  in  taking  care  of  them. 

"Result:  My  cattle  increased  twenty-five  per  cent  in  number  an- 
nually and  decreased  in  market  value  at  the  same  rate.  After  three 
years'  experience  in  working  for  nothing  and  boarding  myself,  I  con- 
cluded I  had  enough  of  it  in  that  direction,  and  sold  out  the  herd  for  less 
than  its  original  cost,  and  never  would  try  it  again  through  fear  of  a  like 
experience. 

"Case  3.  Hogs. — I  had  been  taught  that  to  be  a  successful  farmer 
I  must  keep  at  least  a  few  hogs  on  the  farm.  This  I  did  for  several  years, 
though  I  could  see  there  was  nothing  in  it  for  me  at  three  to  five  cents 


ADVOCATE  A ND  GUIDE.  49 

if  I  happened  to  hit  the  top  market.  But  when  I  had  to  sell  my  finest 
bunch  of  fat  hogs  for  $2.90,  it  put  the  everlasting  quietus  on  the  hog- 
raising  business  for  me,  and  I  have  bought  my  meat  for  family  use  ever 
since. 

''Case  4.  Corn. — Having  been  taught  diversified  farming  by  those 
interested  in  the  production  of  cheap  food,  I  thought  of  course  I  had  to 
raise  corn.  After  raising  a  few  thousand  bushels  annually  a  few  years 
for  which  I  got  12  to  18  cents  a  bushel,  I  swore  off  on  corn  raising  and 
never  planted  another  grain  of  it. 

"Diversified  farming  is  based  on  the  theory  that  one  of  a  dozen  differ- 
ent products  might  be  in  luck,  and  from  it  the  farmer,  realize  enough  to 
pay  his  taxes,  enabling  him  to  give  the  other  eleven  products  away. 

"Case  5.  Wheat. — Through  experience  I  found  I  could  make  a  liv- 
ing by  raising  wheat  exclusively  and  discontinued  all  other  products. 

"But  I  observed  whenever  we  had  a  rain  or  snow  and  I  planned  to 
pay  my  children  for  their  help  in  the  field  owing  to  the  expected  larger 
yield,  that  the  board  of  trade  beat  me  to  it  by  selling  the  price  down  to 
offset  the  expected  increased  amount. 

"There  was  no  incentive  in  trying  to  raise  either  a  larger  yield  per 
acre  or  a  better  quality,  as  the  board  of  trade  saw  to  it  that  I  received 
less  money  for  the  crops  in  such  cases.  So  I  rented  my  farm,  moved  to 
town,  gave  my  children  a  business  education  to  enable  them  to  do  some- 
thing they  could  get  pay  for,  and  advised  them  to  keep  out  of  the  farming 
business  until  the  farmers  developed  sense  enough  to  unionize  and  take 
over  the  price-fixing  and  control  of  their  own  products  to  insure  reason- 
able wages  and  interest  on  investments. 

"We  farmers  learned  by  bitter  experience  tha  the  more  we  raise  of 
any  product  the  less  we  get  for  it  under  present  methods  of  price-fixing. 
"Hundreds  of  thousands  of  us  gave  up  the  struggle  because  we  were 
unwilling  to  make  perpetual  slaves  of  ourselves  and  families  for  the  bene- 
fit of  Board  of  Trade  gamblers  and  warehouse  manipulator  of  prices. 

"When  the  farmers  unionize  each  separate  product  to  insure  fair 
wages  and  interest  on  their  investment  through  minimuni  price-fixing 
then  plenty  will  be  produced  for  all  at  fair  and  reasonable  prices. 

"The  government  should  not  only  permit  the  farmers  to  thus  union- 
ize and  fix  prices  but  should  aid  them  in  doing  so  for  the  protection  of  all 
from  short  supplies  and  exorbitant  prices." 

Changing  Overproduction  Into  a  Shortage. 

Whether  we  have  a  good  or  poor  crop,  somebody  or  or- 
ganization must  set  the  price  on  it.    So  far  it  has  never 


50  FARMERS'  UNION  AND  FEDERATION 

been  the  wheat  growers.  The  speculators  point  to  over- 
production as  an  excuse  to  justify  a  low  price  to  the  producers 
while  they  juggle  it  out  of  their  possession.  Then  they  lock 
up  their  warehouses,  buy  options  and  point  to  the  big  de- 
mand and  no  supply  to  boost  prices.  They  have  changed 
an  overproduction  when  in  the  producers'  hands  to  a  short- 
age when  in  theirs. 

Now,  the  wheat  growers  must  take  over  for  their  own  use 
this  little  device  of  changing  overproduction  into  a  shortage 
if  they  wish  to  harvest  the  dollars  the  gamblers  do.  And 
wouldn't  it  be  more  sensible  to  harvest  dollars  direct  than 
wheat  since  it  is  the  dollars  you  are  really  after?  There  is 
no  patent  on  that  device  of  the  speculators,  and  the  wheat 
raisers  can  take  it  from  them  whenever  they  wish  to  by 
unionizing.  Wouldn't  it  pay  better  to  have  a  dollar-harvest- 
ing machine  than  a  wheat-harvesting  machine?  You  can 
have  it  free  simply  by  unionizing. 

The  moment  granaries  are  locked  up  in  unison  all  over  the 
United  States  the  supply  ceases,  and  as  demand  cannot  cease 
it  will  soon  raise  the  price  to  the  minimum  demanded. 

More  Money  for  Big  Crops. 

Table  I  shows  that  in  1905,  3,779,000  acres  more  were 
harvested  than  in  1904,  and  the  yield  per  acre  was  two  bush- 
els more,  making  140,579,000  more  bushels  than  the  crop  of 
1904.  But  owing  to  the  price  being  17.6  cents  a  bushel  less 
it  gave  only  $7,883,000  more,  or  about  5i  cents  a  bushel  for 
all  that  increased '  production,  allowing  the  same  price  as 
1904 — 92.4  cents  for  the  balance.  As  it  cost  about  twenty 
dollars  an  acre  to  raise  wheat  then  at  union  labor  wages 
and  overhead  expenses,  there  was  a  direct  net  loss  of  $67,- 
697,000  on  that  surplus  yield,  when  at  the  same  price  of 
the  previous  year  there  would  have  been  a  gain  of  $129,- 
894,996. 


ADVOCATE  AND  GUIDE.  51 

Had  the  wheat  raisers  been  unionized  they  could  have 
easily  changed  their  wages  of  $7,883,000  into  wages  of 
$129,894,996  without  raising  the  1904  price,  by  using  that 
method  of  the  speculators  for  changing  a  surplus  into  a 
shortage. 

Such  an  opportunity  exists  every  year.  Why  not  union- 
ize to  grasp  it?  Had  the  wheat  growers  been  unionized 
they  could  not  only  have  had  proportionately  as  good  a 
price  for  all  these  good  crops  as  for  the  poor  ones,  but  could 
have  had  much  better  prices  for  the  poor  crops. 

Chicago's  Erratic  Market  to  be  Eliminated. 

Uniform  and  regular  daily  purchases  of  wheat  can  be  had 
only  by  stabilizing  the  price,  and  that  can  be  done  only  through 
unionizing  to  fix  a  minimum  monthly  price  for  a  year  ahead. 
As  it  is  now,  with  such  erratic  prices  no  regular  buying  is 
possible.  When  prices  are  advancing  rapidly  everybody 
stops  selling  to  wait  for  the  top,  and  when  they  decline 
rapidly  everybody  stops  buying  to  wait  for  the  bottom  to 
be  reached.  This  aids  in  forcing  the  pendulum  of  prices  to 
extremes. 

The  following  table  of  high  and  low  prices  on  wheat  in 
Chicago  each  month  from  1911  to  1917  inclusive  for  No.  1 
Northern,  given  in  cents  and  fractions  per  bushel,  shows  its 
extremely  erratic  nature  and  justifies  its  permanent  elimina- 
tion. The  price  after  August,  1917,  is  uniform  because  of 
government-made  price  of  $2.20,  and  options  in  wheat  being 
discontinued.  It  will  be  resumed  after  the  war  if  the  wheat 
growers  do  not  unionize  and  take  o\^r  the  price-making  on 
wheat.  Now  is  a  very  favorable  time  to  do  it  while  Chicago 
has  suspended  temporarily. 

Remember  that  prices  at  the  wheat  raiser's  home  market 
for  the  bulk  of  this  wheat  was  always  twenty  to  thirty  cents 
below  this  Chicago  price,  and  also  that  the  most  of  it  was 
marketed  during  the  months  of  lowest  quotations. 


52 


FARMERS'  UNION  AND  FEDERATION 
TABLE  III. 


MONTH 


Jan. 

Feb. 

Mar. 

April 

May 

June 

July 

Aug. 

Sept. 

Oct. 

Nov. 

Dec. 


Low. 
High. 


Low . 
High. 


Low. 
High. 


Low. 
High. 


Low. 
High. 


Low  . 
High. 


Low. 
High. 


Low. 
High. 


Low. 
High. 

Low. 
High. 

Low. 
High. 

Low. 
High. 


Year 


Low. 
High. 


191] 


S103.00 
112.00 


97.00 
107.00 


95.00 
102.00 


93.00 
104.00 


98.00 
106.00 


94.00 
103 . 00 


93.50 
108.50 


96.00 
115.00 


100.00 
112.00 


108.00 
117.00 


107.00 
112.00 


105.00 
110.00 


$93.00 
117.00 


1912 


$107.00 
114.00 


108.00 
115.00 


108.00 
115.00 


108.00 
122.00 


115.00 
122.00 


113.00 
120.00 


105.00 
116.00 


95.00 
111.00 


90.50 
97.00 


91.00 
97.00 


85.00 
92.00 


85.00 
90.75 


1913 


$88.50 
93.00 


90.50 
94.00 


87.25 
92.50 


90.00 
95.50 


90.50 
96.00 


91.50 
96.00 


88.50 
95.00 


89.62 
94.25 


88.00 
95.25 


85.00 
90.50 


88.00 
91.25 


89.50 
93.00 


$85.00  $85.00 
122.00   96.00 


1914 


$90.00 
93.25 


1915 


$128.00 
154.00 


91.001  146.00 
97.50  167.00 


94.00 
97.38 


93.75 
97.50 


96.00 
100.00 


89.00 
99.00 


88.50 
109.00 


94.25 
127.00 


108.00 
133.00 


105.50 
117.50 


114.00 
118.12 


115.00 
131.00 


138.00 
162.50 


152.50 
165.50 


141.00 
164.50 


123.00 
149.00 


132.00 
153.75 


108.00 
131.00 


99.50 
114.00 


99.00 
115.50 


102 . 50 
111.00 


106.00 
128.50 


$88.50  $99.00 
133.00  167.00 


1916 


$119.75 
139.50 


112.00 
138.00 


109.38 
123.00 


118.75 
128.00 


116.00 
126.00 


106.50 
118.00 


110.00 
131.88 


126.12 
164.25 


150.00 
171.50 


164.00 
202.00 


165.00 
200.00 


155.50 
190.00 


$106.50 
202.00 


1917 


$178.25 
205.00 


162.50 
199.00 


183.75 
213.00 


205.50 
295.75 


258.00 
340.00 


249.00 
310.00 


217.00 
300.00 


223 . 00 
300 . 00 


220 . 00 
230.00 


220.00 
220.00 


220.00 
220.00 


220 . 00 
220.00 


$162.50 
340.00 


It  is  claimed  by  many  that  the  Chicago  board  of  trade 
is  a  necessary  stabiHzer  of  prices,  but  this  table,  and  all 
other  price  tables,  disprove  it.  Nothing  is  more  unstable. 
It  is  not  to  the  interest  of  gamblers  and  speculators  to  have 
a  stable  market;  but  it  is  to  all  others.  Millers  and  all 
dealers  in  wheat  and  its  products  must  have  a  greater  mar- 
gin of  profits  to  cover  a  fluctuating  market. 

You  will  note  the  great  differences  between  the  low  and 
high  prices  in  the  same  months,  when  there  should  be  little 
difference ;  and  the  big  difference  between  the  lowes  t  and 
highest  prices  of  the  year  when  a  drop  of  eighteen  cents  to 


ADVOCATE  AND  GUIDE.  53 

twenty-four  cents,  from  old  to  new  wheat,  should  suffice. 
You  will  also  note  that  the  lowest  point  is  when  farmers 
are  unloading  the  bulk  of  the  crop. 

There  are  on  a  crop  generally  hundreds  of  millions  of 
dollars  difference  each  year  between  the  lowest  and  highest 
prices  per  bushel,  and  everybody  has  stood  for  the  highest 
prices  when  exacted  by  speculators,  and  they  will  stand  for 
it  with  still  more  satisfaction  were  the  wheat  growers  to  be 
the  beneficiaries. 

When  business  will  be  pleased  with  a  stabilized,  though  it 
be  the  highest  price,  and  wheat  growers'  wages  and  interest 
increased  by  hundreds  of  millions  of  dollars  annually,  with- 
out increased  work  or  expense,  why  not  just  unionize  and 
grab  it  away  from  gamblers?  Are  not  your  wife  and  chil- 
dren, who  help  to  raise  the  wheat,  more  entitled  to  it  than 
the  gamblers  and  speculators?  Who  will  look  after  their 
interest  if  you  do  not?  Before  anyone  works  for  you  or 
produces  anything  for  you  they  set  the  price  and  know  in 
advance  what  wages  or  price  they  are  to  receive.  Why 
don't  you  wheat  growers  do  the  same  thing  before  you  begin 
seeding?  You  have  the  same  right  to  do  it  that  others  have. 
Are  you  going  to  remain  too  stupid  and  indolent  to  do  as 
other  classes  are  doing  bv  you? 

Government  Indorses  Future  Price-Setting. 

In  August,  1917,  when  wheat  was  $3.00  on  the  Chicago 
board  of  trade  and  prices  expected  to  go  much  higher,  the 
government  set  a  price  limit  of  $2.20  in  Chicago  until  July 
1,  1918,  when  it  was  to  be  reduced  j:o  $2.00  for  the  crop  of 
that  year.  Thus  the  government  recognized  the  principle 
of  not  only  pricing  the  entire  wheat  crop  of  the  United  States 
in  advance  of  threshing  it,  but  also  in  advance  of  preparing 
to  plant  it,  or  for  two  years  ahead.  In  February,  1918, 
there  was  an  agitation  to  raise  the  price  of  wheat  to  stimu- 
late a  greater  spring  wheat  acreage.     Senator  Gore,  from 


M  FARMERS'  UNION  AND  FEDERATION 

Oklahoma,  introduced  a  bill  to  raise  the  price  of  wheat  to 
$2.50  per  bushel  at  the  farmers'  hom,e  market,  and  Senator 
McCumber,  of  North  Dakota,  one  to  increase  the  price  to 
$2.75,  Chicago  basis. 

In  order  to  stop  the  holding  of  wheat  caused  by  this  agi- 
tation for  higher  prices,   President  Wilson   by  proclama- 
tion on  February  23,  1918,  raised  the  price  of  the  1918  crop 
twenty  cents  a  bushel,  making  it  equal  to  the  1917  govern- 
.ment  price.     A  newspaper  clipping  of  that  date  says : 

"The  prices  fixed,  the  President  declared,  would  insure  the  producer 
of  a  reasonable  profit.  On  the  basis  of  No.  1  northern  spring  wheat  and 
its  equivalents,  the  President  fixed  the  prices  as  follows  :  Chicago,  $2.20 ; 
Omaha,  $2.15;  Kansas  City,  $2.15;  St.  Louis,  $2.18;  New  York, 
$2.28 ;  Galveston,  $2.20 ;  New  Orleans,  $2.20 ;  Fort  Worth,  Tex.,  $2.09 ; 
Oklahoma  City,  Okla.,  $2.05 ;  Wichita,  Kan.,  $2.08.  The  equivalents 
of  No.  1  Northern  to  which  the  same  price  applies,  are  No.  1  hard  winter ; 
No.  1  red  winter;  No.  1  Durum,  and  No.  1  hard  white.  The  wheat 
must  be  harvested  in  the  United  States  during  1918  and  sold  in  the 
market  before  June  1,  1919." 

This  firmly  establishes  the  precedent  and  legality  of  price- 
setting  on  crops  in  advance  of  seeding.  It  is  a  most  valu- 
able and  necessary  duty  for  wheat  growers  to  perform  for 
themselves  when  the  government  quits  and  leaves  them 
again  at  the  mercy  of  profiteerers.  But  only  by  unionizing 
can  they  do  it.  Teachers  and  preachers,  lawyers  and  doc- 
tors and  the  scores  of  other  professional  people  have  the 
price  of  their  services  fixed  in  advance  of  the  performance 
of  it.  Before  union  labor  strikes  a  lick  of  work  at  anything 
they  see  to  it  that  the  wages  they  are  to  receive  are  settled. 
They  know  in  advance  what  it  is  to  be.  Even  the  most 
unskilled  common  laborers  know  in  advance  what  their 
daily,  weekly  or  monthly  wages  are  to  be.  Not  so  with  the 
farmers.  They  are  the  only  class  of  laborers  who  go  it 
blind  by  performing  the  work  first  before  anything  is  said 
or  done  about  the  price  he  is  to  receive.  All  this  can  be 
changed  by  unionizing  and  pricing  the  wheat  for  a  year 
ahead. 


ADVOCATE  AND  GUIDE.  55 

Under  the  present  board  of  trade  gambling  in  prices  of  farm 
products  it  is  more  alluring  to  thousands  of  men  than  grow- 
ing the  crops.  They  hear  of  the  successes  but  not  the  losses 
made  by  the  small  dealers  in  options,  and  at  once  take  the 
get-rich-quick  fever. 

Two  cases  widely  advertised  will  illustrate  the  demoraliz- 
ing effect  of  such  gambling  on  young  farmers.  A  farmer  in 
McPherson  County,  Kansas,  sent  his  son  to  a  school  in 
Hutchinson  a  few  years  ago  and  gave  him  $250,  with  the 
admonition  that  he  must  make  it  last  him  through  the  school 
year.  His  uncle  in  Hutchinson  was  dealing  in  wheat  futures 
on  the  Kansas  City  board  of  trade  and  persuaded  the  lad 
to  let  him  have  $200  to  invest  in  wheat  margins  for  him. 
At  the  close  of  the  school  the  boy  went  home  in  his  first 
tailor-made  suit,  a  new  touring  car,  and  with  a  bank  deposit 
book  showing  $7,000  to  his  credit.  Of  course,  all  were 
astonished,  and  he  was  the  hero  with  the  girls  and  the  envy 
of  the  country  boys. 

A  Northern  man,  visiting  in  the  South,  fell  in  love  with  a 
Southern  girl  whose  father  was  -a  cotton  planter,  and  had 
been  a  colonel  in  the  Confederacy,  and,  of  course,  would  not 
allow  his  daughter  to  marry  the  Northerner.  But  the  chap 
found  out  that  the  Colonel's  home  was  heavily  mortgaged 
and  would  be  sold  at  auction  in  the  fall  if  not  paid.  The 
Colonel  was  relying  on  one  of  those  bumper  ''mortgage- 
lifting"  cotton  crops  then  in  sight  to  turn  the  trick.  The 
young  man  having  observed  the  unusual  cotton  prospect 
sold  it  heavily  on  the  New  Orleans  cotton  exchange.  Down 
went  the  cotton  price  until  the  old  man's  bumper  crop 
would  not  pay  expenses,  to  say  nothing  of  hfting  mortgages. 
The  young  man  collected  his  margins  and  attended  the  sher- 
iff's sale  of  the  Colonel's  farm.  As  it  was  about  to  go  under 
the  hammer  to  the  highest  bidder  and  the  old  man  saw  the 
accumulation  of  his  life's  work  and  home  slipping  from  his 
grasp,  the  young  man  stepped  up,  called  a  halt,  asked  for 


56  FARMERS'  UNION  AND  FEDERATION 

the  mortgage,  paid  it  off  and  handed  it  to  the  Colonel.  Of 
course,  the  planter  was  so  grateful  to  him  he  consented  to 
the  marriage. 

This  story  was  dramatized,  filmed  and  exhibited  in  movies 
all  over  the  country.  No  wonder  boys  get  dissatisfied  with 
the  old  slow  farm  life  when  they  see  the  choicest  prizes  going 
to  the  gamblers  in  farm  products. 

There's  a  remedy.  It  is  this :  Let  the  big  five — wheat, 
cotton,  corn,  cattle  and  hog  growers — unionize  separately, 
then  federate.  Adopt  the  minimum  price  system  through 
which  to  control  prices  and  put  the  boards  of  trade  gamblers 
out  of  business  in  their  products.  A  few  farmers  may  op- 
pose this  program,  but  that  might  expose  them  to  the  sus- 
picion that  they  had  been  fortunate  gamblers  themselves, 
or  else  lucky  a  few  times  in  selling  products  at  the  top  price 
speculators  put  them  to  and  thus  gained  a  relative  advantage 
over  neighbors  who  sold  at  lower  prices,  or  they  may  have 
a  covetous  eye  on  a  farm  they  hope  the  owner  will  be  obliged 
to  sell  cheap  or  be  unable  to  pay  off  the  mortgage  on  it,  so 
he  can  bid  it  in.  Be  that  as  it  may,  a  very  large  majority 
of  the  farmers  will  favor  encouraging  and  protecting  their 
sons  in  the  slow  but  honest,  industrious  way  of  home  build- 
ing and  ownership  through  production  by  knocking  out  this 
tempting  gambling  device  of  boards  of  trade. 

Objections  to  Government  Price-Making. 

Of  course,  it  would  be  much  better  for  the  wheat  growers 
were  the  government  to  continue  setting  the  price  on  wheat 
than  to  return  that  function  to  the  gamblers.  But  the  gov- 
ernment should  in  that  case  price  everything  the  wheat 
raisers  must  buy  to  do  them  justice.  The  time  will  probably 
come  when  the  government  will  find  it  necessary  to  take 
over  the  entire  business  of  price-making  for  all  classes  to 
prevent  oppressive  monopolies. 


ADVOCATE  AND  GUIDE.  57 

Were  the  government  to  continue  pricing  wheat  it  would 
still  be  necessary  for  the  wheat  growers  to  unionize  to  have 
authorized  and  qualified  representatives  to  plead  their  cause 
before  the  price-making  authorities  to  get  a  square  deal.  All 
unionized  classes  are  clamoring  for  cheap  wheat,  and  would 
influence  a  class-ruled  government  against  the  interest  of 
unorganized  wheat  raisers. 

In  May,  1917,  when  speculators  had  the  wheat,  the  price 
went  to  $3.40  a  bushel  in  Chicago,  but  the  government  saw 
no  way  to  interfere  with  profits  of  gamblers  and  speculators. 
But  when  the  growers  had  a  new  crop  about  ready  to  put 
on  a  $3.00  market  with  a  good  prospect  of  it  rising,  the  gov- 
ernment got  busy  and  reduced  it  to  $2.20  for  the  entire  year, 
and  $2.00  for  the  succeeding  year  after  a  timely  tip  to  the 
speculators  and  gamblers  to  unload.  This  shows  that  the 
government  could  not  be  trusted  to  deal  fairly  with  the 
wheat  growers  unless  they  were  unionized  to  bring  their 
united  influence  to  bear  against  other  organized  classes. 

Tariff  Discrimination  Against  Farmers. 

Placing  a  duty  on  foreign  goods  to  protect  the  domestic 
market  for  native  producers  is  a  device  to  allow  the  home 
producers  to  unionize  and  arbitrarily  raise  the  price  of  their 
products  to  the  foreigner's  price  plus  the  tariff.  That  com- 
pels the  consumer  to  pay  that  much  more.  The  placing  of 
that  tariff  on  goods  the  farmers  buy  while  leaving  foreign 
agricultural  products  to  come  in  free  of  duty  shows  the  class 
nature  of  the  device  in  its  discrimination  against  the  unor- 
ganized farmers. 

A  partial  list  of  articles  and  amount  of  ad  valorem  duty 
on  them,  from  the  United  States  Customs  Duties  of  1913, 
that  farmers  buy  are  as  follows  : 

Earthenware,  porcelain,  decorated .- 40% 

Earthenware,  common ' 15% 

Glassware,  plain  and  cut 45% 


58  FARMERS' MNION  AND  FEDERATION 

House  or  cabinet  furniture 15% 

Cotton  cloth " .  .• 10  to  30% 

Cotton  clothing,  ready  made 30% 

Yarns 15% 

Cloths,  chiefly  of  wool 35% 

Blankets  and  flannels 25% 

Leather,  manufactures  of 30% 

Soap,  toilet 30% 

Table  and  kitchen  utensils,  metal 25% 

Dress  goods,  women's  and  children's 35% 

Clothing,  ready-made 35% 

Carpets  and  rugs 50% 

These  are  a  few  of  the  things  farmers  buy  when  they  have 
the  price  on  a  monopolized  market  protected  from  foreign 
competition,  while  the  following  products  of  foreigners  are 
allowed  free  importation :  Bacon,  beans,  beef,  broom  corn, 
cattle,  corn,  corn  meal,  cream,  fowls,  grains,  hams,  hides, 
lamb,  lard,  meats,  milk,  mutton,  pigs,  potatoes,  rye,  sheep, 
wool,  and  wheat. 

The  manufacturing  class  unionized  years  ago  to  go  into 
politics  to  control  the  government  in  their  interest.  They 
control  the  tariff  policy  of  both  parties.  That  policy  is  to 
protect  themselves  from  the  competition  of  foreign-made 
goods  by  a  high  tariff,  while  forcing  the  farmers  to  compete 
in  a  free  market  with  foreign  farm  products.  They  want 
cheap  food  for  themselves  and  employes,  and  cheap  raw  ma- 
terial for  their  factories,  but  high  prices  from  the  farmers  for 
their  goods. 

The  farmers  should  unionize  and  go  into  politics  to  pro- 
tect their  interests.  Their  tariff  policy  should  be  to  force 
the  government  to  either  take  the  tariff  off  all  goods  they 
buy,  or  put  a  high  tariff  on  all  products  they  raise  to  sell. 
If  they  must  sell  on  a  free  world  market,  they  should  demand 
the  chance  to  buy  their  goods  on  a  free  world  market  also. 

But  they  could  get  no  benefit  from  a  tariff  on  their  prod- 
ucts without  unionizing  and  adopting  the  minimum  price 
system. 


ADVOCATE  AND  GUIDE.  59 

A  current  news  item  on  the  expected  tariff  changes  after 
the  war  should  warn  farmers  to  unionize  so  their  executive 
officers  could  with  authority  represent  their  demands  before 
the  Tariff  Commission.     Quotations  from  it  are  as  follows : 

"After  the  war,  and  there  are  some  who  think  that  this  means  this 
year,  a  question  of  far-reaching  importance  by  common  consent  is  to  be 
readjustment  of  tariffs.  It  is  very  fortunate  in  this  situation  that 
thanks  largely  to  organized  business  men  of  the  country,  who  insisted 
that  the  tariff  should  be  made  a  business  and  not  a  political  question, 
the  government  has  already  established  a  Tariff  Commission,  and  this 
body,  with  its  employed  experts,  has  been  busy  for  nearly  two  years 
compiling  data  that  should  be  of  incalculable  value  to  Congress  in  deter- 
mining what  necessary  duties  are  in  a  given  industry. 

"Industries  generally  have  shown  a  disposition  to  give  the  Tariff 
Commission  helpful  co-operation.  It  will  be  fortunate  for  the  country 
if  this  spirit  of  mutual  co-operation  and  helpfulness  prevails  generally, 
for  after  the  war,  as  never  before,  trade  competition  will  be  acute,  and 
the  question  of  tariffs  will  be  questions  of  business  strictly,  to  be  deter- 
mined by  facts." 

All  unionized  manufacturers  of  goods  farmers  buy  will 
have  their  officials  before  this  Tariff  Commission  to  advocate 
and  plead  for  high  protective  tariffs  on  importations  of  for- 
eign-made goods  to  protect  their  monopoly  of  the  home 
markets.  There  is  just  as  much  justice  and  necessity  for  a 
high  protective  tariff  on  farmers'  products  as  on  those  he 
has  to  buy,  and  they  should  all  unionize  to  give  them  in- 
fluence enough  in  our  government  to  enforce  it  and  thereby 
secure  a  monopoly  of  the  United  States  markets  for  their 
products.  Buying  on  a  monopolized  market  and  selling  on 
a  free-trade  market  has  bankrupted  many  of  them,  and  will 
many  more. 

Wheat  Producers  Should  Go  Into  Politics. 

Yes,  wheat  producers  and  producers  of  all  other  farm  prod- 
ucts should  unionize  and  go  into  politics  as  all  other  classes 
have  done.  Politics  simply  means  advocating,  supporting^ 
voting  for,  lobbying  for,  and  having  enacted  into  law  such 


60  FARMERS'  UNION  AND  FEDERATION 

policies  as  are  thought  to  be  best  for  one's  interest,  or  to 
defeat  poHcies  of  others  that  are  to  one's  injury  or  disad- 
vantage. Of  course,  all  classes  now  unionized  and  in  pol- 
itics for  class  legislation  will  advise  the  farmers  to  keep  out 
of  politics ;  but  that  is  because  they  can  get  and  keep  the 
advantages  they  want  over  farmers  that  would  be  jeopard- 
ized did  they  unionize  and  go  into  politics. 

Unionized  city  labor  has  had  its  officials  prepare  and  lobby 
through  Legislatures  and  Congress  scores  of  bills  for  their 
special  benefit.  Unionized  manufacturers,  bankers,  em- 
ployers, packers,  railroads,  speculators  and  profiteerers  have 
had  their  officials  do  the  same  thing  for  them.  Many  of 
the  laws  thus  enacted  have  been  against  the  interest  of  the 
wheat  growers,  but  not  being  unionized  they  had  no  one 
authorized  and  qualified  to  protect  them. 

A  few  current  news  items  will  illustrate  how  organized 
classes  seek  favorable  legislation  continually  : 

''Chicago,  Feb.  26. — Following  revelations  that  the  packers  'scooped 
the  world'  on  the  appointment  of  Herbert  Hoover  as  Food  Adminis- 
trator and  packed  Washington  with  friendly  '  dollar-a-year  men,'  Wis- 
consin and  Missouri  butter  and  egg  men  are  here  today  to  throw  light 
on  alleged  attempts  to  monopolize  their  industry.  Francis  J.  Heney, 
who  is  directing  the  probe  for  the  government,  planned  to  introduce 
further  letters  in  support  of  his  contention  that  the  Food  Administra- 
tion is  honeycombed  with  men  friendly  to  the  packing  interests.  Cor- 
respondence between  officials 'and  representatives  of  the  Chicago  pack- 
ing industries  indicating  a  contemplated  monopoly  of  the  country's 
food  and  virtual  control  of  the  Food  Administration  was  made  public 
by  Heney.  He  read  more  than  100  letters.  They  show  that  the  largest 
packing  houses  are  represented  in  the  Food  Administration  by  more  than 
a  half  dozen  trusted  employees.  They  are  on  the  payrolls  of  their  former 
employers  at  lucrative  salaries.  Mr.  Heney  declared  these  silent  'pay- 
roll patriots'  hold  positions  which  have  jurisdiction  of  practically  every 
phase  of  the  meat  industry.  'Dollar  a  year  from  the  government — 
$10,000  a  year  from  the  packers,  and  services  rendered  accordingly,' 
Heney  said.  Since  the  start  of  the  war,  according  to  Mr.  Heney,  all  of 
the  larger  Chicago  packers  have  had  private  wires  into  Washington." 


ADVOCATE  AND  GUIDE.  61 

"Washington,  Feb.  4. — Wage  increases  ranging  from  30  to  40  per 
cent  for  railroad  employees  will  be  asked  of  the  railroad  wage  commission 
by  the  four  brotherhoods,  it  was  stated  today  by  one  of  the  brotherhood 
representatives  here.  It  is  declared  to  be  the  purpose  of  the  four 
brotherhoods  not  to  embarrass  Director  General  McAdoo  by  extrava- 
gant demands,  but  to  ask  increases  amounting  to  approximately  66  per 
cent  of  the  increased  cost  of  living  occasioned  by  the  war.  For  the  con- 
ductors, Garretson  asked  a  flat  rate  of  $5.20  per  hundred  miles  for  the 
freight  conductors  and  $3.25  per  hundred  miles  for  the  passenger  con- 
ductors. The  present  rate  for  the  former  is  $4.00  to  $4.18  and  $2.90  for 
the  latter.  Next  week  W.  S.  Carter,  president  of  the  firemen,  and  War- 
ren Stone,  the  engineers'  chief,  will  testify  as  to  the  needs  of  the  employees 
they  represent.  Mr.  Garretson  said  today  that  while  the  executives 
of  the  four  brotherhoods  had  organized  to  act  together  when  the  Adam- 
son  bill  was  before  Congress,  this  time  they  are  acting  independently." 

"Washington,  Sept.  1,  1917. — The  fight  for  the  5-cent  loaf  of  bread 
will  be  up  to  the  consumer,  and  in  this  they  will  be  reinforced  by  experts. 
The  administration  is  on  the  side  of  the  master  bakers,  and  Hoover 
officials  believe  that  with  wheat  selling  at  $2.20  per  bushel,  a  16-ounce 
loaf  cannot  be  made  to  retail  for  less  than  eight  cents,  but  the  agricul- 
tural experts  and  the  consumers'  representatives  to  the  wheat  price- 
fixing  board  agreed  to  the  $2.20  standard  only  upon  the  agreement  for  a 
5-cent  loaf  of  bread.  Henry  J.  Waters,  of  Manhattan,  Kans.,  was  one 
of  the  $2.20  supporters,  while  James  Sullivan,  of  the  American  Feder- 
ation of  Labor,  and  WiUiam  Doak,  of  the  Trainmen's  Brotherhood,  ad- 
vocated a  $1.84  standard." 

You  will  see  from  above  items  how  unionized  labor,  while 
clamoring  for  ever  increasing  wages  for  themselves,  had  the 
nerve  to  take  seats  on  the  wheat-pricing  commission  and 
try  to  hammer  it  down  from  $3.00,  the  price  it  was  then,  to 
$1.84.  You  will  also  note  that  they  were  ''reinforced"  in 
their  $1.84  demand  by  ''experts"  and  by  the  "administra- 
tion" and  "Hoover  officials"  and  the  "master  bakers,"  be- 
cause they  wanted  a  pound  loaf  for  five  cents,  and  would 
agree  to  the  $2.20  price  only  on  that  condition. 

There  was  not  a  wheat  raiser  on  that  price-making  board, 
nor  an  elected,  authorized  and  qualified  representative  of 
the  wheat  producers.     That  is  because  the  wheat  growers 


62  FARMERS'  UNION  AND  FEDERATION 

are  not  organized.  Had  they  been  unionized  their  officers 
would  have  been  on  that  board  to  plead  for  better  wages,  and 
at  least  a  dollar  more  would  have  been  added  to  the  price. 
The  650,000,000  bushels  you  produced  in  1917  would  have 
brought  you  that  many  more  dollars,  and  the  1918  crop 
probably  more  than  that. 

Don't  you  think  it  would  pay  better  to  unionize  and  go 
into  politics  to  increase  your  wages,  as  other  classes  do,  than 
to  go  into  the  mud  or  dust  of  the  field  to  raise  more  wheat  to 
lower  your  wages  with? 

Farmers  Punished  for  Capital  and  Labor  Profiteering. 

Because  farmers  are  not  unionized  and  in  politics  to  pro- 
tect their  interest  against  classes  that  are,  they  are  pun- 
ished by  both  foreign  and  domestic  laws  for  the  greed  of 
others.  Because  unionized  manufacturers  had  a  high  tariff 
put  on  imports  of  foreign  goods  the  manufacturing  countries 
put  a  high  tariff  on  imports  of  farm  products  from  the  United 
States' in  retaliation.  Thus  the  farmers  not  only  have  Ho 
buy  their  supplies  on  a  protected  market,  but  sell  their 
products  on  the  basis  of  foreign  protected  markets.  Because 
we  have  some  wheat  to  export  every  year — about  an  average 
of  sixteen  per  cent  of  annual  crop  in  the  ten  years  from  1904 
to  1913  inclusive — it  affects  the  price  for  the  entire  crop.  In 
^  other  words,  we  must  sell  all  our  wheat  at  the  foreign  market 
price  minus  their  import  tariff,  transportation  and  commis- 
sions to  place  it  there. 

In  this  matter  wheat  growers  should  follow  the  example 
of  manufacturers  to  be  on  an  equality  with  them.  That  is 
to  unionize,  go  into  politics,  have  a  tariff  of  $2.00  a  bushel 
put  on  wheat  importations,  charge  the  domestic  consumers 
the  foreign  price  of  wheat  plus  transportation,  commissions, 
and  $1.90  of  the  protective  tariff.  If  your  wheat  is  not  all 
taken  at  that  price,  feed  it  to  your  chickens,  pigs  and  calves, 
or  store  it  away  for  famine  years,  or  ship  it  abroad  for  half 


ADVOCATE  AND  GUIDE.  63 

the  home  price.  That  last  plan  is  what  the  manufacturers 
do  with  their  surplus  goods  that  the  home  people  cannot 
buy  at  their  inflated  prices. 

Because  speculators  and  gamblers  put  the  price  of  wheat 
up  to  $3.40  a  bushel  last  May,  when  they,  had  gotten  it  out 
-of  the  farmers  hands  at  from  $1.00  to  $1.50  a  bushel  the  fall 
before,  the  government  punished  the  wheat  raisers  by  pricing 
their  two  following  crops  unreasonably  low  for  war  and 
famine  conditions. 

Because  warehouses,  packing  houses,  jobbers,  wholesalers, 
commission  men,  union  labor  and  retailers,  take  such  ex- 
orbitant tolls  out  of  farm  products,  the  price  to  the  farmers 
is  forced  down  to  the  lowest  possible  point  to  make  it  pos- 
sible for  consumers  to  buy  them.  This  is  often  less  than 
one-half  to  one-fourth  what  they  should  have  to  cover 
skilled  labor  wages  and  overhead  expenses. 

Producers  of  all  farm  products  should  unionize  and  set 
mininaum  prices  on  them  that  would  cover  those  two  classes 
of  cost.  They  should  take  theirs  out  first,  as  they  are  en- 
titled to  do,  and  then  let  other  classes  fight  it  out  among 
themselves  and  with  the  public  for  theirs. 

What  do  you  think  of  that  plan,  Mr.  Farmer?  That  is 
the  minimum  price  plan.  I  am  sure  you  would  like  to  get 
the  good  wages  union  labor  is  getting  and  all  the  overhead 
expenses  it  costs  you  to  produce  your  products.  You  can 
have  both  by  unionizing  to  inaugurate  and  follow  that  plan 
in  selling  your  products.  Will  it  pay  to  unionize  for  that? 
It  is  up  to  you  to  decide. 

Cost  of  Raising  Wheat  in  Argentina. 

A  copy  of  a  letter  from  our  consul  at  Rosario,  Argentina, 
Mr.  Wilbert  L.  Bonrey,  dated  October  29,  1917,  was  mailed 
to  me  February  23,  1918,  by  the  Department  of  Agriculture, 
Washington,  D.  C,  on  my  request  for  statistics  on  cost  of 
wheat  production  in  this  and  foreign  countries.  It  is  an  in- 
teresting view  of  our  far  off  competitors  in  wheat  raising,  and 
I  give  it  in  full : 


64  FARMERS'  UNION  AND  FEDERATION 

TABLE  IV. 

"RosARio,  Argentina,  October  29,  1917. 
"Deputy  Alfredo  Echague,  chairman  of  a  committee  appointed  to 
study  the  question  of  an  export  tax,  has  published  certain  figures  calcu- 
lated to  show  the  cost  to  the  producer  of  raising  wheat  as  it  is  produced  in 
Argentina.  The  calculation  is  based  upon  the  expense  of  cultivating  a 
wheat  farm  of  220  hectares  (543.62  acres),  of  which  twenty  hectares,  or 
49.42  acres,  are  devoted  to  pasturage  for  the  horses,  leaving  494.2  acres 
for  wheat.     The  figures  are  as  follows : 

Capital, 

Two  double  plows $169.84 

Two  harrows 59 .  44 

One  seeder 161 .  35 

One  header 382. 14 

Three  wagons 551 .  98 

Implements 212 .  30 

Corral  and  pasture  fence > 212 .  30 

Tools 84.92 

Ranch  hut  and  water  tank 127 .  38 

Canvas  covering  for  stacks 127.38 

Fifty  horses  at  $21.23 1 ,061 .50 

Seed  wheat 866 .  18 

Total  capital $4,016.71 

Expenses. 

Eight  per  cent  upon  capital $321 .  33 

Ten  per  cent  depreciation  on  tools  and  animals 315.05 

Plowing,  harrowing,  sowing 849 .  20 

Seed,  54  pounds  per  acre 870 .  00 

Sulphur 23.78 

Insurance  against  hail 148 .  61 

Cutting  and  stacking 849 .  20 

Threshing 1 ,019.04 

Bags 509. 52 

Cartage  to  station 509 .  52 

Freight  to  port 573 .  21 

Support  of  farmer  and  family 849 .  20 

Total  expense  of  production $6,837.66 


ADVOCATE  AND  GUIDE.  65 

"Production :  2,000  quintals,  of  which  25  per  cent  goes  to  the  owner 
of  the  land.  The  1,500  quintals,  or  about  5,513  bushels,  have  thus  cost 
the  tenant  about  $1.24  per  bushel,  allowing  the  owner  of  the  land  1,838 
bushels,  or  3.38  bushels  per  acre  as  rental,  the  tenant  furnishing  seed, 
tools,  animals,  insurance,  and  paying  threshing  bill  and  family  expenses. 
The  estimate  is  based  upon  the  presumption  of  a  yield  of  approximately 
14.87  bushels  per  acre  for  the  land  actually  cultivated. 

"The  figures  throw  some  light  upon  methods  of  wheat  raising  in 
Argentina,  upon  prevailing  prices,  and  indicate  the  outfit  considered 
necessary  and  the  status  of  the  tenant.  The  prices  of  machinery  may 
appear  high,  but  are  actually  based  upon  the  prices  prevailing  before 
the  war,  and  are  lower  than  the  present  prices.  The  low  price  of  farm 
horses  is  an  interesting  feature  of  the  estimate,  and  the  primitive  ar- 
rangements for  the  living  accommodations  of  the  tenant  are  also  sug- 
gested. The  rental  of  the  bare  land,  amounting  to  3.38  bushels  per  acre, 
or  more  than  $7.00  per  acre  at  prevailing  prices  for  cash  wheat,  may  ap- 
pear high  for  naked  land  without  house,  well,  fence,  barn,  or  stock,  the 
landlord  furnishing  nothing  except  the  use  of  the  land.  The  amount 
of  land  worked  by  one  family  is  large,  and  if  a  good  crop  and  a  good 
price  is  reaUzed,  both  landlord  and  tenant  are  usually  satisfied.  The 
figures  indicate  the  amount  of  capital  which  the  tenant  farmer  of  Argen- 
tina is  supposed  to  command,  although  as  a  matter  of  fact  it  is  commonly 
advanced  to  him  by  some  one  interested  in  his  operations,  and  as  it  is 
advanced  without  other  security  than  the  crop,  an  element  of  specula- 
tion is  injected  into  the  activities  of  the  farmer,  whose  effort  is  directed 
to  raising  wheat  to  the  exclusion  of  poultry,  vegetables,  fruits,  and  all 
other  side-products  incidental  to  farming  in  older  countries.  The  rais- 
ing of  wheat  is  an  industrial  undertaking  and  is  not  associated  with  the 
idea  of  a  homestead  or  permanent  residence.  Having  only  one  product 
to  sell,  a  failure  of  the  wheat  crop  places  the  wheat  farmer  in  a  distressing 
position,  and  also  embarrasses  those  who  have  advanced  capital  to  him, 
and  is  reflected  in  the  general  trade  situation,  in  railroad  receipts,  and 
in  public  revenues. 

"Over  against  the  estimate  of  $1.24  for  the  cost  of  producing  wheat, 
must  be  sent  the  claim  of  millers  to  the  effect  that  wheat  can  be  pro- 
duced under  normal  conditions  for  eighty  cents  per  bushel,  and  the 
further  fact  that  the  cost  depends  largely  upon  the  personal  equation 
of  the  producer. 

"A  true  copy  of  the  signed  original. — S.  R.  P." 

The  millers  there  evidently  want  an  export  duty  on  wheat, 
but  not  on  flour  or  other  mill  products.  That  would  give 
them  a  fine  monopoly  of  the  wheat  at  their  own  price,  and 
shows  the  need  of  wheat  growers  there  unionizing. 


66  FARMERS'  UNION  AND  FEDERATION 

The  most  interesting  thing  about  our  South  American 
competitor  is  his  $127.38  dwelhng  and  water  tank.  If  the 
tank  costs  as  much  as  they  do  in  Kansas  it  would  leave 
about  $50  for  the  dwelling,  when  there  should  be  at  least 
$15,000  worth  of  buildings  on  a  farm  that  size  for  comfort 
and  convenience  for  a  family  and  force  large  enough  to  op- 
erate it. 

The  next  is  his  $21.23  horses,  while  they  cost  us  from 
$150  to  $250  each  ;  then  comes  plowing,  harrowing  and  sow- 
ing for  $1.72  an  acre,  while  it  should  be  about  $6.00  for  pre- 
paring and  seeding  an  acre ;  next  is  cutting  and  stacking  for 
$1.72  per  acre,  when  it  should  be  $3.50  to  $5.00 ;  then  comes 
ten  cents  freight  to  port,  while  we  pay  double  that  from  our 
central  wheat  belt. 

Now  the  question  for  you  wheat  producers  to  answer  is : 
Do  you  wish  to  continue  in  competition  with  this  Argentina 
wheat  grower  until  your  standard  of  hving  is  reduced  to  a 
par  with  his?  If  you  do  not,  then  you  simply  must  unionize 
yourselves  and  then  unionize  him  to  stop  his  foolishness,  or 
else  put  up  a  high  tariff  wall  to  fence  his  wheat  out  of  com- 
petition with  yours  in  your  home  market.  If  you  adopt 
the  latter  course,  you  must  go  into  politics  to  make  high 
tariff  on  wheat  a  campaign  issue  in  all  elections,  put  up 
candidates  of  your  own  class  and  send  them  out  as  spell- 
binders to  win  votes  for  a  protective  tariff  on  all  farm  prod- 
ucts that  are  unionized.  They  can  borrow  a  few  barrels 
of  campaign  speeches  from  the  Republican  Party  used  by 
their  spell-binders  for  the  last  half  century  in  advocating  a 
protective  tariff  on  '^infant  industries"  on  the  pretext  of 
saving  their  laborers  from  the  alleged  low  standard  of  living 
prevailing  in  Europe.  Those  speeches  will  fit  the  wheat 
growers'  case.  They  need  protection  from  the  competition 
of  pauper  wheat  raisers  of  Argentina  who  have  no  home,  and 
evidently  will  never  be  able  to  own  one,  as  the  above  letter 
shows. 


ADVOCATE  AND  GUIDE.  67 

The  millers  there  as  here  are  unionized,  and  because  they 
can  take  advantage  of  the  wheat  growers'  necessity  for  cash 
and  take  his  wheat  for  80  cents  a  bushel  that  costs  him  $1.24 
to  raise,  and  then  claim  it  can  be  raised  for  that  price  under 
'^ normal  conditions."  Evidently  they  mean  by  ''normal 
conditions"  a  man  with  a  robust  wife  and  large  family  to 
be  worked  as  slaves  without  compensation.  That  is  the 
kind  of  ''normal  conditions"  the  millers  desire  here,  and  they 
aided  in  beating  down  our  good  1914  wheat  crop  to  60  cents 
a  bushel.  Millions  of  bushels  were  sold  in  Kansas  that  year 
at  from  60  to  65  cents  a  bushel,  and  had  it  not  been  for  the 
war  coming  on  the  price  would  probably  have  gone  much 
lower  than  that. 

Such  prices  will  prevail  again  after  the  war  if  you  wheat 
raisers  fail  to  unionize  to  protect  yourselves  from  the  pau- 
perized growers  of  other  countries  and  profiteerers  at  home. 
It  is  now  up  to  you. 

To  Give  First  Market  to  Needy  Producers. 

One  of  the  good  things  to  be  accomplished  by  wheat  grow- 
ers unionizing  is  to  enable  them  to  give  the  first  market  each 
year  to  those  who  must  sell  right  after  harvest  on  account 
of  debts,  having  no  granary  room  or  having  to  move,  and  to 
pay  those  able  to  hold  a  monthly  increase  equal  to  interest 
and  shrinkage  for  keeping  it  off  the  market.  That  can  be 
done  through  the  minimum  pricing  by  a  monthly  increase 
of  from  two  to  three  cents,  as  the  executive  board  may  de- 
termine is  necessary.  As  it  is  now,  many  who  are  able  to 
hold  their  wheat  dump  it  on  the  market  through  fear  of 
lower  prices,  or  at  least  no  increase  to  pay  them  for  holding 
it.  That  gluts  the  market  and  overtaxes  railroads,  elevators 
and  mills  to  take  care  of  it,  tending  to  force  prices  ever 
lower. 

The  same  price  the  year  round  is  a  serious  defect  in  the 
present  government  pricing.  Were  we  to  get  a  big  crop  this 
year  (1918)  and  good  threshing  weather  right  after  harvest 


68  FARMERS'  UNION  AND  FEDERATION 

the  wheat  would  be  dumped  on  the  market  in  two  or  three 
months,  swamping  the  government  to  take  care  of  it.  The 
other  plan,  of  a  gradual  increased  price,  would  insure  an 
even  delivery  throughout  the  year. 

As  the  government  will  not  price  your  wheat  after  the 
war,  it  is  the  right  and  duty  of  wheat  growers  to  unionize 
now  to  take  over  that  most  important  duty  when  the  gov- 
ernment quits. 

Greater  Security  for  Borrowed  Money. 

Unionizing  to  stabiHze  and  put  a  bottom  to  the  price  of 
wheat  high  enough  to  cover  skilled  union  wages  and  over- 
head expenses  will  greatly  increase  its  security  value.  Wheat 
raisers  who  are  obliged  to  borrow  on  wheat  could  get  larger 
amounts  at  a  lower  rate,  and  not  be  harassed  for  payment 
for  fear  of  its  price  decreasing.  Wheat  would  then  be  good 
security  for  anything  wanted  on  credit  up  to  its  minimum 
price  when  the  union  demonstrated  it  was  able  to  keep  it 
from  going  below  that. 

Wheat  raisers  should  change  tactics,  and  instead  of  in- 
creasing the  yield  go  to  unionizing  to  put  worth  and  value 
into  what  they  now  raise.  They  take  worth  and  value  out 
of  it  by  raising  more  unless  they  unionize.  Take  the  sensi- 
ble plan  all  other  classes  are  taking. 

,  Union  labor  now  gets  more  wages  for  eight  hours  a  day 
than  in  three  days  of  twelve  hours  each  before  unionizing. 
All  classes  have  found  out  by  experience  they  can  increase 
their  income  and  decrease  their  labor  by  unionizing.  Wheat 
raisers  can  do  that  also  by  following  that  plan.  Why  not 
try  it?  It  is  up  to  them  to  unionize.  No  others  can  do  it 
for  them. 

Foolishness  of  Kansas  Wheat  Growers. 

Nothing  so  demonstrates  the  need  of  wheat  growers  un- 
ionizing to  set  and  maintain  prices  on  wheat  as  the  foolish- 


ADVOCATE  AND  GUIDE.  69 

ness  of  producing  large  crops  for  less  money  than  smaller 
ones.  Nobody  but  farmers  are  now  foolish  enough  to  work 
for  others  free  and  board  themselves,  and  pay  a  big  bonus 
for  that  privilege.  That  is  because  all  Other  classes  are 
unionized  to  fix  in  advance  the  price  they  are  to  receive  for 
labor  or  service.  They  look  after  price-making  first  and 
perform  the  service  afterwards,  while  the  farmers  produce 
first  and  allow  others  to  set  the  price  afterwards. 

To  illustrate  the  foolishness  of  Kansas  wheat  raisers,  a 
few  of  the  worst  cases  of  misapplied  energy  will  suffice.  In 
the  even  millions  only,  in  1883  we  raised  30,000,000  bushels, 
worth  $22,000,000.  Then  we  got  work  crazy  and  raised 
40,000,000  bushels  in  1884,  for  which  we  got  $20,000,000. 
Raised  18,000,000  bushels  to  give  away  free  and  had  to  put 
up  $2,000,000  to  get  them  to  take  it  off  our  hands,  as  com- 
pared with  the  price  the  previous  year.  Could  anything  be 
more  foolish  except  more  of  it?  And  here  is  more  :  In  1891 
we  raised  58,000,000  bushels  for  $42,000,000.  Then  the 
working  fever  struck  us  harder  and  we  put  in  395,919  acres 
more,  raised  74,000,000  bushels  in  1892  and  got  $40,000,000— 
16,000,000  bushels  given  away  with  the  same  bonus  for  tak- 
ing it — $2,000,000.  What  do  you  know  about  that  for  a 
clear  case  of  work  brittle  stupidity?  In  1893  on  24,000,000 
bushels  $11,000,000  was  realized,  while  28,000,000  bushels  in 
1894  brought  the  same  price — four  million  bushels  given 
away  after  paying  all  the  expense  of  raising  and  marketing 
it.  But,  of  course,  we  are  glad  they  didn't  charge  anything 
that  time  for  taking  it.  We  didn't  get  off  so  easy  the  next 
time,  for  in  1897  we  got  $34,000,000  for  51,000,000  bushels, 
while  only  $32,000,000  for  60,000,000  bushels  the  next  year. 
They  held  us  up  for  $2,000,000  for  being  so  generous  as  to 
raise  and  give  away  9,000,000  bushels.  In  1904  we  realized 
$51,000,000  on  65,000,000  bushels,  while  the  year  before  we 
got  only  $52,000,000  for  94,000,000  bushels— 42,000,000 
bushels  for  only  $1,000,000  more — 2 J  cents  a  bushel.     In 


70  FARMERS'  UNION  AND  FEDERATION 

1906,  a  crop  of  93,000,000  bushels  brought  us  only  $55,000,- 
000,  while  74,000,000  bushels  in  1907  brought  $56,000,000— 
19,000,000  bushels  more  realized  one  million  dollars  less  in 
1906  compared  with  the  1907  crop. 

And  so  the  story  goes  on.  If  not  always  less  money  for 
bigger  crops,  at  least  much  less  proportionately.  What  a 
punishment  for  industry!  What  a  punishment  for. neglect 
to  unionize!  No  wonder  our  sons  leave  the  farm.  No 
wonder  girls  refuse  to  marry  them  unless  they  do.  No 
wonder  the  farmers  are  the  butt  of  ridicule  everywhere.  No 
wonder  they  are  considered  the  stupid  mudsills  of  the  pop- 
ulation to  be  swindled  by  every  grafter  and  profiteerer. 

Wheat  growers,  arise  and  unionize!  Demand  and  enforce 
skilled  labor  wages  and  good  interest  on  investments  through 
the  minimum  price  system ;  put  members  of  your  union  in 
Legislatures  and  Congress  to  work  for  your  interests  as  other 
classes  do  ;  have  executive  boards  of  your  own  members  to 
advise  and  direct  them  and  you ;  follow  their  advice  and 
orders  in  unison ;  work,  act  and  vote  as  one ;  learn  to  obey 
your  chosen  leaders  and  do  team  work.  Then  you  will  be 
respected  and  wield  a  power  the  government  will  recognize 
and  consult. 

Can  Wheat  Growers  Afford  to  Unionize? 

With  the  foregoing  record  of  billions  of  dollars  lost  to  the 
wheat  growers  through  failure  to  unionize  and  adopt  the 
minimum  price  system,  there  are  still  some  who  will  ask, 
"Will  it  pay  to  unionize?  Will  it  pay  to  take  the  time  to 
attend  a  meeting  to  organize?  Will  it  pay  to  pay  a  mem- 
bership fee  to  employ  organizers?  Will  it  pay  to  pay  monthly 
dues  to  employ  elected  members  of  our  union  to  look  after 
our  interests  and  aid  and  direct  us  what  to  do  and  when  and 
how  to  do  it  to  increase  our  wages?"  Ask  members  of  any 
labor  union,  or  any  trade  union,  or  any  industrial  union,  or 
any  association  that  fixes  minimum  prices  for  their  product 


ADVOCATE  AND  GUIDE.  71 

or  services,  and  over  ninety-nine  per  cent  of  them  will  tell 
you  they  wouldn't  be  without  it;  that  their  expenses  for 
maintaining  their  union  is  only  a  small  fraction  of  the  addi- 
tional money  received  through  the  power  and  advantages 
of  it. 

With  your  losses  herein  shown  you  and  your  gains  assured, 
the  questions  in  the  minds  of  wheat  growers  should  be, 
''Can  we  afford  to  remain  unorganized?  Can  we  afford  to 
continue  raising  hundreds  of  millions  of  bushels  to  give 
away  free  as  in  the  past?  Can  we  afford  to  work  for  such 
low  wages,  and  invest  at  so  low  a  rate  of  interest?  Can  we 
afford  to  work  and  invest  and  leave  to  gamblers  and  profit- 
eerers  the  fixing  of  our  wages  and  interest?  Can  we  afford 
to  see  our  sons  and  daughters  continue  leaving  us  for  better 
wages  in  cities?  Can  we  afford  to  neglect  longer  to  unionize 
to  demand  and  enforce  skilled  labor  wages  and  reasonable 
interest  on  our  investment  as  other  classes  do?"  It  is  for 
you  wheat  producers  to  answer  these  questions,  and  act  to 
reahze  your  reward  as  others  do  by  unionizing. 

Union  laborers  would  be  considered  crazy  were  they  to 
propose  to  work  twelve  hours  a  day  for  less  wages  than  for 
eight  hours,  yet  wheat  growers  will  continue  to  raise  twelve 
bushels  of  wheat  for  less  money  than  for  eight  bushels  until 
they  unionize  to  enable  them  to  stop  such  fooUshness. 

Menace  of  Big  Farms. 

Probably  one  of  the  greatest  menaces  to  the  average  wheat 
grower  is  the  mammoth  farm  that  can  and  may  put  them 
out  of  the  wheat  raising  business  unless  curbed  by  the  wheat 
growers  themselves  through  their  united  political  power. 
The  following  news  item  from  Canada,  dated  March  30, 
1918,  indicates  the  trend  of  the  big  farm  menace  to  the  small 
wheat  farms : 

"All  plowing  contests  since  plows  first  were  made  will  be  eclipsed 
by  a  contest  next  month  among  the  twenty-six  units  of  a  50,000-acre 
farm,  each  unit  being  1,920  acres,  where  iron  horses  will  plow,  seed  and 


72  FA  RMERS'  UNION  A  ND  FEDERA  TION 

harrow  in  ten  days'  time  or  less,  two-thirds  the  entire  acreage  of  each 
unit.  Individuals  and  corporations,  returned  soldiers  and  retired  farm- 
ers are  vieing  with  each  other  and  the  government  in  Canada's  gigantic 
effort  to  grow  a  maximum  quantity  of  wheat.  Not  only  has  the  Domin- 
ion government  ordered  one  thousand  tractors  delivered  this  spring 
for  distribution  among  the  wheat  growers,  but  the  government  of  Sas- 
katchewan alone  will  put  in  crop  an  immense  government  tract,  if  it 
follows  the  lead  of  the  Chicago  capitalists  headed  by  Frederick  S.  Oliver, 
who  will  operate  50,000  acres  in  the  Snipe  Lake  district,  Saskatchewan. 
The  great  plowing  contest  will  be  on  that  Snipe  Lake  farm  of  Mr.  Oliver, 
and  a  purchase  of  tractors  amounting  to  $75,000  has  been  made  for  it. 
The  match  will  be  under  the  supervision  of  the  world's  champion  sod- 
turner,  J.  E.  Hauskins,  cff  Eston,  who  boasts  he  is  no  'silk  shirt  farmer,' 
but  a  real  one  bred  on  the  soil.  So  determined  is  Canada  that  its  won- 
derful wheat-growing  prairies  shall  not  lie  idle  for  lack  of  the  population 
to  work  them  as  the  wheat-growing  valleys  of  the  United  States  are 
worked,  that  not  only  on  the  great  Snipe  Lake  farm,  but  throughout 
the  Province,  whole  armies  of  workers  with  a  fleet  of  tractors  like  the 
battle  tanks  of  Flanders  will  go  into  action  as  soon  as  the  spring  opens. 
According  to  the  suggestion  of  the  Hon.  George  Langley  of  the  Sas- 
katchewan government,  who  proposes  a  government  enterprise  on  a 
bigger  scale  even  than  the  Oliver  farm,  3,300  tractors  and  20,000  men 
enlisted  as  soldiers  of  the  soil,  could  seed  and  harvest  a  million  acres 
this  year  and  add  at  least  a  quarter  of  a  billion  bushels  of  wheat  to  the 
storehouses  of  the  Allies." 

''Great  Falls,  Mont.,  Jan.  9,  1919. — Wheat  will  be  harvested  next 
fall  from  one  of  the  world's  largest  farms,  comprising  about  200,000 
acres  of  Indian  lands  in  Montana  and  Wyoming.  Of  this  big  tract, 
about  33,000  acres  of  irrigated  land  has  been  plowed  and  seeded,  and  the 
remainder,  it  is  announced,  will  be  cultivated  during  the  coming  sum- 
mer. The  land  is  located  on  the  Crow,  Blackfeet  and  Fork  Peck  reser- 
vations in  Montana  and  the  Wing  River  reservation  in  Wyoming.  To 
make  this  land  productive  a  corporation  with  $2,000,000  capital  was  or- 
ganized last  spring  when  Thomas  D.  Campbell,  a  North  Dakota  farmer, 
conceived  the  idea  of  cultivating  the  thousands  of  acres  of  the  Indian 
lands  in  Montana  and  Wyoming.  He  lacked  capital,  but  obtained  the 
approval  and  assistance  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior,  Franklin  K. 
Lane,  and  J.  P.  Morgan  and  other  leading  New  York  bankers.  The 
corporation  was  then  formed  with  several  of  these  bankers  as  members 
of  the  board  of  directors  and  Mr.  Campbell  as  president.  On  this  huge 
^arm  not  a  horse  will  be  use^.  Instead,  large  tractors  capable  of  turn, 
ing  over  large  quantities  of  prairie  sod  were  purchased.     In  all  fifty-two 


ADVOCATE  AND  GUIDE.  73 

of  these  machines  are  now  the  property  of  the  corporation^  and  the  plow- 
ing record  for  last  summer  was  more  than  one  acre  a  minute  for  the  work- 
ing time.  On  one  day  1,880  acres  were  turned  and  broken.  It  is  pro- 
posed to  organize  the  farm  into  5,000-acre  units,  each  with  its  own  group 
of  permanent  buildings,  modernly  equipped  and  in  charge  of  a  compe- 
tent farm  manager.  Each  farm  will  be  separately  managed.  Contracts 
for  the  leasing  of  the  land  on  long  term  agreements  have  been  executed 
with  the  government  through  Secretary  Lane.  Many  acres  of  similar 
land  exist  in  practically  all  of  the  Pacific  Coast  states  as  well  as  in 
Colorado,  and  steps  are  being  taken  to  open  that  land  to  the  returning 
soldiers.  No  steps  have  thus  far  been  taken  in  Montana  to  invite 
soldiers  to  settle  on  the  uncultivated  land." 

While  nothing  should  be  said  or  done  to  discourage  food 
production  during  the  war,  yet  wheat  growers  should  unionize 
at  once  and  prepare  to  put  the  above  kind  of  wheat  raisers 
out  of  business  as  soon  as  peace  is  restored. 

There  are  only  two  courses  to  follow :  either  put  them  out 
of  competition  with  you  or  go  out  of  the  wheat  growing 
business  yourselves.  The  small  farm  operater  cannot  pos- 
sibly raise  wheat  as  cheaply  as  can  be  done  on  the  above 
magnitude.  This  competition  is  more  to  be  feared  than  that 
of  Argentine  previously  referred  to.  There  are  only  two 
ways  to  get  rid  of  it :  First,  make  the  wheat  growers'  union 
international  and  limit  by  law  the  number  of  acres  one  person 
or  company  may  farm  in  all  countries;  or,  second,  put  a 
protective  tariff  on  wheat  and  its  products  and  thus  elim- 
inate competition  in  the  home  market. 

Herein  is  a  lot  of  political  work  for  the  wheat  growers' 
union  to  do  when  organized.  It  should  be  international  as 
labor  and  capital  unions  are.  It  should  elect  its  own  mem- 
bers to  Legislatures  and  Congress  where  possible  as  they  do. 
Governments  should  be  put  out  of  the  wheat  raising  business 
'  or  else  be  compelled  to  go  to  producing  things  wheat  growers 
buy.  Only  through  unionizing  can  wheat  growers  have  any 
political  power  to  aid  themselves  and  protect  their  interests. 
Wonderful  inventions  take  the  place  of  scores  of  men  in 
producing  things  farmers  buy,  yet  their  price  is  higher  than 


74  FARMERS'  UNION  AND  FEDERATION 

ever  and  still  advancing ;  therefore,  farm  products  must  be 
advanced  in  price  regardless  of  increased  facilities  for  pro- 
duction, not  for  spite  or  retaliation,  but  for  economic  neces- 
sity to  put  farmers  on  equality  with  other  producers  to 
enable  them  to  buy  their  necessities.  Only  through  union- 
izing and  adopting  and  enforcing  the  minimum  price  system 
based  on  skilled  union  wages  and  overhead  expenses  can 
that  be  done. 

To  have  equality  with  all  other  organized  classes  in 
economic  and  political  power  and  government  influence  the 
wheat  raisers  must  unionize  and  go  into  politics  to  demand 
and  work  for  their  interests  through  their  elected  officers 
and  representatives  as  they  do.  Only  through  that  plan 
can  they  get  their  wages,  and  interest  on  investments  in- 
creased and  guaranteed.  And  this  course  should  be  followed 
at  once  by  the  producers  of  each  farm  product  organizing 
into  separate  unions  and  then  all  federating  into  the  Ameri- 
can Federation  of  Farmers  to  checkmate  and  offset  the 
economic  and  poUtical  power  of  other  unionized  and  fed- 
erated classes  of  labor  and  capital. 

The  later  news  item  concerning  the  200,000-acre  farm 
shows  the  growing  danger  in  this  country  of  capitalists'  com- 
petition in  the  farming  business  that  could  and  probably 
will  put  the  small  farmers  out  of  business  unless  they  un- 
ionize to  prevent  it  by  law.  There  is  no  time  to  lose  in  un- 
ionizing and  investigating  the  terms  of  Morgan's  land  leases 
from  the  government,  and  have  them  annulled. 

Labor  Wages  Based  on  Cost  of  Living. 

It  is  a  mistaken  idea  that  farmers  can  live  cheaper  than 
city  people  if  they  indulge  in  the  same  luxuries  they  do. 
And  why  shouldn't  they?  This  thing  of  expecting  and  com- 
pelling farmers  to  live  on  less  than  city  people  is  driving 
them  to  the  city.  Through  prices  of  their  products  they 
must  receive  wages  equal  to  skilled  union  wages  in  cities  or 


ADVOCATE  AND  GUIDE.  75 

else  desert  the  farm  for  city  employment.  Interest  on  cap- 
ital invested  in  land,  improvements  and  farming  equipment 
must  be  as  good  and  as  well  secured  by  adequate  returns  as 
that  invested  in  city  property,  or  capital  will  also  desert  the 
farm  for  city  investments. 

The  basis  of  city  union  wages  is  now  regulated  by  the  as- 
certained cost  of  maintaining  an  average  family  in  necessi- 
ties, luxuries  and  idleness,  or  in  school,  by  the  head  of  the 
family.  And  this  should  also  be  the  basis  of  the  farmer's 
wages  collected  through  the  minimum  price  system  herein 
advocated. 

I  shall  here  introduce  two  news  items  to  show  that  the 
government  recognizes  the  cost  of  maintaining  a  family  to 
be  the  basis  of  wages  and  what  that  cost  is  ascertained  to  be  : 

"Washington,  March  29,  1918. — A  national  labor  policy  for  the 
duration  of  the  war  and  giving  a  sweeping  victory  to  trade  unionism, 
was  signed  this  afternoon  by  the  representatives  of  capital  and  labor,  in 
the  labor  planning  board.  The  document  was  drawn  up  in  the  form  of 
a  letter  to  Secretary  of  Labor  Wilson  signed  by  ten  of  the  foremost  labor 
leaders  and  representative  employers  of  the  nation  and  by  former  Presi- 
dent Taft  and  Frank  P.  Walsh,  as  representatives  of  the  public.  It 
provides  for  virtually  complete  recognition  of  the  rights  of  the  union 
workers,  and  it  was  conceded  by  labor  men  this  afternoon  to  be  their 
most  signal  victory  in  the  annals  of  trade  disputes.  It  includes  a  dec- 
laration of  principles  and  policy  to  govern  workers  in  industry  during  the 
war,  and  a  further  declaration  of  the  machinery  by  which  future  dis- 
putes between  labor  and  capital  may  be  adjusted,  and  provides  definite 
and  exact  terms  and  means  for  what  might  be  called  '  a  supreme  court 
of  capital  and  labor.'  This  includes  a  board  along  the  lines  of  the  plan- 
ning board  to  adjust  labor  difficulties.  Among  the  principles,  it  is  un- 
derstood, there  is  a  guarantee  that  the  common  laborer  will  receive 
wages  proportionate  to  the  high  cost  of  living  and  will  provide  for  his 
comfort  and  health.  This  alone  means  that  the  so-called  day  laborer 
will  have  his  wages  amount  to  at  least  $4.00  a  day. 

"Washington,  April  10,  1918. — The  average  American  family 
spends  as  much  today  for  food  alone  as  it  did  in  1900  to  maintain  the 
entire  household.  The  cost  of  living  has  grown  double  since  the  be- 
ginning of  the  century,  according  to  a  report  issued  today  by  the  bureau 
of  labor  statistics.     The  average  cost  of  household  maintenance  in  1900 


76  FARMERS' lUNION  AND  FEDERATION 

was  $769.  During  1917  the  cost  for  the  same  commodities  was  $1,401. 
Food  alone  in  1917  cost  only  $53  less  than  all  items  combined  in  1900, 
when  $327  represented  the  expenditures  for  food  in  the  average  working- 
man's  family.  By  1911  it  had  swelled  to  $430,  and  in  1917  increased  to 
$716.  The  landlord's  toll  has  gone  up  59  per  cent  and  clothing  has 
doubled,  rising  from  $108  to  $210.  Fuel  and  lighting  have  increased 
from  $40  to  $82.  The  largest  advance  in  these  items  occurred  between 
1914  and  1917.  The  1917  figures,  the  report  shows,  are  already  in- 
correct, because  of  the  continuous  advances.  The  minimum  standard 
of  comfort  tod^y,  the  bureau  shows,  requires  a  wage  approximately 
of  $1,500  a  year.  The  average  of  twenty-four  American  cities  is  that 
the  minimum  amount  necessary  for  a  reasonable  standard  of  health 
and  comfort  is  $1,650,  of  which  $660  is  spent  for  food.  Investigation 
made  by  the  department  of  health  in  New  York  City  fixed  the  figures  for 
that  city  at  $1,682.  In  compiling  the  figures  the  bureau  omits  the  costs 
of  such  things  as  amusements,  charity,  books,  insurance,  taxes  and  ex- 
penses incidental  to  sickness." 

Wheat  Raisers  Not  Getting  a  Living  Wage. 

I  shall  now  introduce  statistics  giving  the  yield,  price  per 
bushel  and  value  per  acre  of  wheat  in  the  United  States,  and 
in  Kansas  separately,  for  the  last  fifty  years  preceding  1916, 
to  show  that  the  price  of  wheat  should  be  greatly  increased 
to  give  the  grower  wages  equal  to  skilled  union  wages  and 
adequate  interest  on  investments,  which  he  should  have  to 
be  on  equal  footing  with  city  labor : 


ADVOCATE  AND  GUIDE. 


77 


TABLE  V. 

Bulletin  514,  U.  S.  Department  op  Agriculture. 

Wheat,  yields  per  acre  and  prices,  by  States. 


YEAR 

United  States 

Kansas 

Yield 

Price 

Value 

Yield 

Price 

Value 

1866 

Bushels 
9.9 
11.6 
12.1 
13.6 
12.4 
11.6 
12.0 
12.7 
12.3 
11.1 

10.5 
13.9 
13.1 
13.8 
13.1 
10.2 
13.6 
11.6 
13.0 
10.4 

12.4 
12.1 
11.1 
12.9 
11.1 
15.3 
13.4 
11.4 
13.2 
13.7 

12.4 
13.4 
15.3 
12.3 
12.3 
15.0 
14.5 
12.9 
12.5 
14.5 

15.5 
14.0 
14.0 
15.8 
13.9 
12.5 
15.9 
15.2 
16.6 
17.0 

11.9 
12.3 
12.7 
13.5 
15.0 

Cents 

152.7 

145.2 

108.5 

76.5 

94.4 

114.5 

111.4 

106.9 

86.3 

89.5 

97.0 

105.7 

77.6 

110.8 

95.1 

119.2 

88.4 

91.1 

64.5 

77.1 

68.7 
68.1 
92.6 
69.8 
83.8 
83.9 
62.4 
53.8 
49.1 
50.9 

72.6 
80.8 
58.2 
58.4 
61.9 
62.4 
63.0 
69.5 
92.4" 
74.8 

66.7 
87.4 
92.8 
98.4 
88.3 
87.4 
76.0 
79.9 
98.6 
91.9 

108.6 
92.6 
68.3 
69.4 
86.7 

$15.05 
16.83 
13.17 
10.38 
11.73 
13.24 
13.35 
13.56 
10.65 
9.91 

10.16 
14.65 
10.15 
15.27 
12.48 
12.12 
12.02 
10.52 
8.38 
8.05 

8.54 
8.25 

10.32 
8.98 
9.28 

12.86 
8.35 
6.16 
6.48 
6.99 

8.97 

10.86 

8.92 

7.17 

7.61 

9.37 

9.14 

8.96 

11.58 

10.83 

10.37 
12.26 
12.97 
15.58 
12.28 
10.96 
12.12 
12.16 
16.41 
15.58 

12.79 

11.38 

8.62 

9.34 

13.07 

Bushels 
21.4 
14.0 
15.6 
18.5 
15.0 
15.9 
11.6 
14.0 
13.7 
17.0 

14.6 
13.5 
16.3 
11.0 
10.0 
9.1 
19.9 
17.5 
16.5 
10.6 

11.4 

9.6 

15.2 

18.4 

13.7 

15.5 

17.4 

8.4 

10.4 

7.7 

10.6 
15.5 
14.2 
9.8 
17.7 
18.5 
10.4 
14.1 
12.4 
13.9 

15.1 
11.0 
12.6 
14.4 
14.1 
10.7 
15.5 
13.0 
20.5 
12.5 

15.7 
13.9 
12.8 
13.7 
13.9 

$1.33 

1.32 

1.00 

.63 

.77 

1.02 

1.26 

.92 

.76 

.76 

.79 
.80 
.59 

.  .89 
.70 

1.05 
.67 
.78 
.45 
.65 

.58 
.61 
.88 
.55 
.77 
.73 
.52 
.42 
.44 
.45 

.63 
.74 
.50 
.52 
.55 
.59 
.55 
.59 
.89 
.71 

.58 
.82 
.88 
.96 
.84 
.91 
.74 
.79 
.95 
.89 

.98 
.74 
.60 
.63 
.84 

$28.46 

1867 

18.48 

1868 

15.60 

1869.      . 

11.66 

1870 

11.55 

1871    .    . 

16.22 

1872 

14.62 

1873 

12.88 

1874 

10.41 

1875 

12.92 

1876 

11.53 

1877..    . 

10.80 

1878 

9.62 

1879 

9.79 

1880 

7.00 

1881 

9.56 

1882 

13.33 

1883 

13.65 

1884 

7.42 

1885 

6.89 

1886 

6.61 

1887 

5.86 

1888 

13.38 

1889 

10.12 

1890 

10.55 

1891 

11.32 

1892 

9.05 

1893 

3.53 

1894 

4.58 

1895 

3.46 

1896   .  . 

6  68 

1897 

11.47 

1898 .... 

7  10 

1899 

5.10 

1900 

9  74 

1901 

10.92 

1902 

5  72 

1903 

8:32 

1904 

11.04 

1905 

9.87 

1906 

8  76 

1907 

9.02 

1908 

11.09 

1909 

13.82 

1910 

11.84 

1911. . . 

9  74 

1912 

11.47 

1913 

10  27 

1914 

19:48 

1915 

11.12 

10-YEAR   AVERAGE 

1866-1875 

15.28 

1876-1885 

9.96 

1886-1895 

7.85 

1896-1905 

8.60 

1906-1915 

11.66 

78  FARMERS'  UNION  AND  FEDERATION 

By  multiplying  the  number  of  acres  in  wheat  by  the  av- 
erage value  of  the  wheat,  you  can  find  out  approximately 
your  wages  and  interest.  The  average  returns  from  eighty 
acres  the  last  forty  years  shows  $763.40 — about  one-fourth  of 
what  is  necessary  to  keep  a  family  now  and  give  interest  on- 
investments. 

What  an  Eighty-Acre  Wheat  Farm  Should  Yield  in 
,  Money. 

If  the  children  are  to  remain  on  the  farm  it  must  neces- 
sarily be  divided  into  smaller  farms  as  they  marry  and  es- 
tablish homes  of  their  own.  Therefore,  eighty  acres  should 
be  the  maximum-size  wheat  farm,  and  wages  and  interest 
based  on  it.  The  eighty  acres  farmed  to  wheat  should  yield 
an  income  of  $1,650  in  wages  to  the  farmer;  $800  in  in- 
terest at  ten  per  cent  on  its  value  at  $100  per  acre;  $500 
in  interest  on  $5,000  invested  in  improvements  and  equip- 
ment ;   making  a  total  necessary  income  of  $2,950. 

But  the  average  income  from  eighty  acres  of  wheat  in  the 
United  States  for  fifty  years  is  herein  shown  to  be  only 
$883.20.  If  this  be  applied  on  the  interest  it  falls  $416.80 
short  of  paying  it  and  nothing  for  wages.  If  it  be  applied 
on  the  wages  necessary  to  maintain  a  family  as  above  as- 
certained by  the  bureau  of  labor  statistics  ($1,650)  it  falls 
$766.80  short  of  doing  it,  and  nothing  for  interest.  No  won- 
der people  and  capital  leave  the  farm.  They  will  continue 
doing  so  unless  wages  and  interest  are  raised  through  the 
minimum  price  system  to  equal  that  of  unionized  labor  and 
capital  in  cities.  It  may  be  suggested  by  some  that  the 
farm  should  be  increased  in  size  instead  of  decreased.  But 
that  would  result  in  driving  more  people  to  the  cities;  or 
that  increased  yield  per  acre  should  be  attempted.  But  I 
have  herein  shown  by  statistics  that  that  results  in  reducing 
money  returns  instead  of  increasing  it.  So  the  only  solution 
is  to  unionize  and  fix  a  minimum  price  on  wheat  that  will 


ADVOCATE  AND  GUIDE.  79 

yield  $2,950  from  an  eighty-acre  farm.  That  would  be 
about  $2.80  per  bushel  at  the  farmers'  home  market  on  the 
1,046.40-bushel  average  per  eighty -acre  farm  for  the  fifty 
years  recorded,  or  nearly  three  and  a  third  times  the  average 
price  received  of  85.12  cents  per  pushel. 

Wages  of  city  union  labor  have  been  advanced  to  reach 
the  $1,650  mark  in  most  industries,  and  farmers'  wages 
should  follow  suit  to  put  them  on  an  equality.  Land  at 
$100  an  acre  is  low  priced,  since  it  is  now  more  than  double 
that  price  in  many  locaHties.  Ten  per  cent  on  it  and  im- 
provements and  equipment  is  reasonable,  since  it  covers 
taxes,  insurance  and  depreciation  also.  Double  that  rate 
can  be  made  in  good  industrial  or  city  investments.  There 
is  no  profit  whatever  figured  in  the  $2.80  price.  That,  then, 
should  be  the  fixed  minimum  price  in  the  farmer's  home 
market  at  harvest  time,  and  a  monthly  increase  of  three 
cents  a  bushel  thereafter  to  cover  storage,  shrinkage  and 
interest. 

After  the  war  union  labor  will  fight  to  maintain  war 
wages  and  to  force  farm  products  to  prewar  prices.  It  will 
pay  you  big  to  unionize  now  for  self-protection. 

Price  of  Wheat  Unimportant  Factor  in  Living 
Expenses. 

On  mentioning  the  necessity  of  a  wheat  growers'  union  to 
maintain,  or  increase,  the  price  of  wheat  to  one  wheat  raiser, 
he  expressed  his  opinion  that  wages  and  prices  are  too  high 
now,  and  that  if  the  wheat  price  came  down  so  would  all 
other  prices,  and  that  would  be  a  benefit  to  the  farmers.  He 
had  the  erroneous  idea  that  the  prices  of  all  things  depended 
on  the  price  of  wheat,  while  the  facts  are  that  the  price  of 
nothing  else  necessarily  depends  on  the  wheat  price,  not 
even  its  own  products — flour,  bran,  bread,  crackers,  etc. — 


80  FARMERS   UNION  AND  FEDERATION 

since  other  parties  can  and  do  fix  the  price  on  them  regard- 
less of  whether  wheat  be  $1.00  or  $3.00  a  bushel,  as  the 
following  press  items  conclusively  proves  : 

"Washington,  Nov.  25. — A  statement  showing  average  family  ex- 
penditure for  food  during  the  past  year  has  just  been  issued  by  the  Labor 
Department.  The  figures,  which  are  based  on  price  quotations  received 
monthly  by  the  department  from  more  than  2,000  retail  stores  through- 
out the  country,  and  which  are  taken  from  twenty-two  of  the  most  es- 
sential articles,  show  that  the  average  family  expenditure  from  Septem- 
ber, 1917,  to  September,  1918,  increased  sixteen  per  cent." 

Remember  that  during  all  that  time  the  price  of  wheat 
was  stationary,  having  been  set  by  the  government.  It  was 
not  one  of  the  twenty-two  articles  that  increased  the  cost  of 
living  sixteen  per  cent  in  one  year. 

But  here  ^re  some  of  the  producers  and  dealers  in  the  prod- 
ucts of  wheat  that  did  contribute  to  that  increased  cost  of 
living : 

"  'To  make  a  barrel  of  flour  takes  264  pounds  of  wheat,'  declared  Mr. 
Hyde,  at  a  convention  of  farmers  at  Kansas  City,  Kan.,  March  21. 
'From  this  barrel  of  flour  the  bakers  get  300  sixteen-ounce  loaves  of  bread. 
The  farmer  gets  $8.80  for  the  wheat  that  goes  into  the  barrel  of  flour. 
The  consumer  pays  a  total  of  $31.36  for  the  300  loaves  of  bread.  That 
makes  a  difference  of  $22.66 — and  who  gets  it?  When  wheat  was  ninety 
cents  a  bushel,  soda  crackers  sold  for  five  cents  a  pound.  Now,  when 
wheat  is  about  twice  that  price,  the  price  of  crackers  has  gone  up  to 
twenty  cents.  Hoover  recommended  the  people  eat  substitutes  for 
wheat  flour,  and  through  a  patriotic  spirit  the  people  obeyed.  Imme- 
diately the  price  of  corn  meal  and  other  substitute  flour  products  as- 
cended.' " 

Had  wheat  been  $3.20  instead  of  $2.20,  Chicago  basis, 
what  a  boon  it  would  have  been  to  the  wheat  grower  and 
his  family.  It  would  have  given  them  fair  wages  and  over- 
head expenses  while  not  adding  one  cent  to  the  cost  of  liv- 
ing. It  would  have  simply  been  deducted  from  the  excess 
profits  of  the  foregoing  profiteerers.  Wouldn't  all  people  ex- 
cept these  rather  see  the  wheat  raisers  get  it? 

Then,  wheat  growers,  unionize  and  take  what  is  justly 
yours  from  these  city  profiteers  in  your  product. 


ADVOCATE  AND  GUIDE.  81 

Cost  But  Not  Price  of  Wheat  Advances. 

Governor  Capper  summed  up  the  case  for  the  wheat 
raiser  in  Capper^s  Weekly  of  September  29,  1917,  as  follows : 

"A  year  ago,  before  we  were  at  war,  the  President  and  Congress 
raised  the  wages  of  the  best  paid  labor  in  the  country.  Recently,  in 
time  of  war,  with  the  price  of  every  necessity  soaring,  except  one,  we 
have  reduced  the  wages  of  the  lowest  paid  and  most  vitally  needed 
working  man — the  man  on  the  farm.  We  have  fixed  the  price  of  his 
product  at  $2.00,  less  dockage  charges,  and  he  has  a  short  crop  at  that. 
I  will  also  confess  that  I  think  we  should  quit  making  the  farmer  the 
goat  in  every  emergency.  With  the  prices  of  everything  the  farmer  has 
to  buy  steadily  advancing,  with  market  manipulators  and  price-fixing 
organizations  paying  him  for  years  as  small  a  price  as  possible  for  his 
products,  then  doubling  their  value  to  the  consumer,  with  ten  years  of 
uncertain  crop  seasons  against  him — he  somehow  was  able  to  plug  along 
until  the  war  came  and  promised  him  a  reward,  the  reward  of  a  lifetime 
in  a  fair — mind  you,  I  say  fair — price  for  his  wheat  crop.  Did  he  get 
that  reward?  He  did  not.  Speculation,  which  for  once  was  in  his  favor, 
was  stopped  and  wheat  prices  immediately  slumped  35  to  40  per  cent. 
But  even  this  was  not  enough.  The  very  emergency  which  offered  the 
western  wheat  grower  his  long-deferred  reward,  also  threatened  and  still 
threatens  our  national  existence,  and  the  wheat  grower  submitted  patri- 
otically to  having  the  price  of  his  product  fixed  still  lower,  down  to  S2  a 
bushel,  less  dockage,  a  price  which  on  many  farms  this  year  in  the  win- 
ter wheat  belt,  does  not  really  meet  the  cost  of  production." 

And  in  the  Topeka  Daily  Capital  of  September  1,  1917,  he 
says:  ''It  is  fair  to  say,  however,  that  but  for  government 
interference  last  May  wheat  would  bring  today  nearer  $5 
than  $2. 

Now,  over  a  year  later,  we  find  wheat  at  the  same  price 
and  nailed  down  by  Congress  for  another  year  with  no  in- 
crease, while  the  cost  of  producing  wheat  has  greatly  ad- 
vanced in  the  last  year.  Living  expenses,  implements, 
building  and  repair  material,  wages,  etc.,  have  increased  from 
100  per  cent  to  500  per  cent  in  some  cases  to  the  wheat 
raiser,  while  he  is  prohibited  from  adding  any  of  it  to  the 
price  of  his  product  as  all  other  classes  do. 

It  will  surely  pay  to  unionize  to  stop  this  unfair  discrim- 
ination. 


82  FARMERS   UNION  AND  FEDERATION 

Farmers  Receive  the  Lowest  Income. 

"Washington,  June  14. — A  larger  proportion  of  brokers  than  of  any 
other  occupational  class  reported  incomes  of  more  than  $3,000  in  1916, 
and  farmers  made  proportionately  the  smallest  number  of  returns,  it  was 
shown  today  in  analysis  of  income  tax  returns  for  1916.  One  out  of 
every  five  brokers  made  returns,  but  only  one  in  400  farmers.  Nearly 
one-fifth  of  all  lawyers  and  judges  made  returns." 

This  is  the  direct  result  of  farmers  failing  to  unionize  and 
go  after  higher  wages  as  all  other  classes  do. 

Wheat  the  Only  Product  Requisitioned. 

"Washington,  March  30. — The  Food  Administration's  appeal  to 
loyal  American  farmers  to  market  their  wheat  now,  while  the  greatest 
difficulty  is  being  met  in  feeding  the  Allies,  had  only  slight  effect  last 
week,  when  mill  receipts  increased  to  3,250,000  bushels  as  compared 
with  the  3,000,000  bushels  of  the  previous  week.  Normal  receipts  are 
7,600,000  bushels.  Many  millions  of  bushels,  the  Administration  said, 
still  are  in  storage  on  the  farms.  Exports  to  the  Allies  meanwhile  con- 
tinue to  decline  and  from  March  15  to  22  amounted  to  only  199,749 
tons  of  cereals  as  compared  with  the  weekly  program  of  270,000  tons. 
Up  to  March  22  there  was  a  deficit  of  1,001,301  tons  in  shipments  of 
breadstuffs,  which  must  be  made  up  with  wheat.  Decision  to  requisition 
all  wheat  held  by  German  sympathizers  seeking  to  profiteer  or  hamper 
the  government  has  not  been  changed,  administration  officials  said. 
They  indicated,  however,  that  another  week  or  ten  days  would  be  given 
loyal  Americans  to  sell  their  grain,  and  that  drastic  action  then  would 
be  considered  to  bring  out  what  was  left." 

Owing  to  filled  elevators  and  no  cars  to  be  had  in  many 
localities,  and  bad  weather  and  roads  in  others,  some  loyal 
wheat  growers  were  unable  to  market  all  their  wheat.  They 
were  notified  by  the  administration  to  market  it  within  a 
few  days  or  they  would  be  liable  to  prosecution.  At  the 
same  time  the  government  needed  scores  of  other  things  to 
equip  and  provision  the  army  as  badly  as  wheat,  but  nothing 
else  was  requisitioned.  They  were  paid  all  they  asked  for 
their  services  or  products,  which  in  some  cases  were  several 
hundred  per  cent  above  cost  of  production.  Your  Uncle 
Samuel  did  not  give  you  wheat  raisers  a  fair  deal,  and  I 


ADVOCATE  AND  GUIDE.  83 

suppose  you  can  tell  him  so,  now  that  the  war  is  over,  with- 
out being  accused  of  pro-Germanism,  for  there  is  not  a  more 
loyal  bunch  than  you  are.  Tens  of  thousands  of  you  an- 
swered the  call  to  arms  and  thousands  made  the  supreme 
sacrifice.  To  produce  this  wheat  you  were  in  desperate  need 
of  farm  implements,  twine,  lumber,  food,  coal  and  clothing, 
that  you  were  unable  to  buy  owing  to  their  high  prices,  yet 
your 'government  refused  to  come  to  your  aid  by  forcing  the 
price  down  fifty  per  cent  and  ordering  holders  to  sell  at  once 
under  penalty  of  confiscation.  Huge  warehouses  were  filled 
with  these  goods  by  producers  and  profiteerers  holding  them 
for  still  higher  prices. 

That's  the  kind  of  treatment  you  can  expect  from  a  labor 
and  capital  controlled  government  until  you  unionize  and 
put  a  controlling  majority  in  Congress  from  your  own  class. 

Congressional  Fight  for  $2.50  Wheat. 

"Washington,  April  9.  —  Senate  and  House  conferees  were  still 
tightly  deadlocked  today  over  $2.50  wheat.  They  expected,  however, 
before  evening  to  formally  disagree  and  to  make  a  report  tomorrow.  The 
conferees  planned  to  lay  their  disagreement  before  the  House  for  in- 
structions. This  will  give  the  House  an  opportunity  to  vote  on  the 
measure  and  register  its  approval  or  disapproval  of  the  new  minimum. 
The  proposal  passed  the  Senate  by  a  two-thirds  vote,  despite  the  admin- 
istration's protest.  Since  that  time  the  administration  forces  have  been 
exerting  every  pressure  to  defeat  it  in  the  House.  A  vote  will  be  taken 
later  in  the  week,  according  to  present  plans.  Both  sides  admitted  the 
vote  would  be  close." 

The  Vote  on  $2.50  Wheat  in  House  of  Representatives,  April 

18,  1918. 

For  Against 

Alabama 0  8 

Arizona 2  5 

Arkansas 2  5 

California 2  5 

Colorado 3  1 

Carried   forward 9  24 


84  FARMERS   UNION  AND  FEDERATION 

Brought  forward 9  24 

Connecticut 1  4 

Delaware 0  1 

Florida 1  3 

Georgia 1  10 

Idaho 2  0 

Illinois 9  12 

Indiana 11  1 

Iowa ~ 6  2 

Kansas ". 8  0 

Kentucky 2  7 

Louisiana 0  0 

Maine 0  4 

Maryland 2  4 

Massachusetts 0  9 

Michigan 9  5 

Minnesota 8  1 

Mississippi 0  8 

Missouri 0  0 

Montana 1  0 

Nebraska 4  6 

New  Hampshire 9  2 

New  Jersey 1  4 

New  Mexico 1  0 

New  York 3  16 

North  Carolina 1  6 

North  Dakota 2  0 

Ohio 7  12 

Oklahoma 6  0 

Oregon 3  0 

Pennsylvania 9  12 

Rhode  Island 0  2 

South  Carolina 0  6 

Tennessee 2  6 

Texas 0  16 

Utah 1  1 

Vermont 0  '    2 

Virginia 3  0 

Washington 4  0 

West  Virginia 3  2 

Wisconsin G  0 

Wyoming 1  0 

Total ,.. ..,.420  183 


ADVOCATE  AND  GUIDE.  85 

REMARKS 

by  Mr.  M.  McAuliffe,  President  of  the  Kansas  Branch  of  the 
Farmers'  Educational  and  Co-operative  Union,  and  editor  of 
The  Farmers'  Union,  May  16,  1918 : 

"I  am  publishing  in  another  place  in  this  paper  the  result  of  the  vote 
by  States,  both  for  and  against  $2.50  wheat,  as  taken  in  the  House  of 
Representatives  April  18. 

"The  result  of  the  vote  of  some  of  the  Northern  States  was  an  agree- 
able surprise  to  me.  For  instance,  Indiana  cast  11  votes  for  and  1 
against ;  Illinois  cast  9  for  and  12  against ;  Pennsylvania  9  for  and  12 
against;  Wisconsin  6  for  and  none  against.  I  didn't  really  expect 
$2.50  wheat  would  get  as  strong  support  in  Indiana,  Illinois  and  Penn- 
sylvania as  it  did.  These  States  are  largely  manufacturing  and  mining 
States.  Ohio,  which  is  one  of  the  great  agricultural  States  of  the  Middle 
West,  didn't  support  $2.50  wheat  as  I  expected  it  would. 

"I  was,  however,  more  disagreeably  surprised  in  the  vote  against 
$2.50  wheat  cast  by  the  Southern  States  than  I  was  agreeably  surprised 
by  the  vote  cast  for  $2.50  wheat  in  the  Northern  States.  I  expected  a 
much  larger  vote  for  $2.50  wheat  in  the  Southern  States  than  it  got. 
The  truth  is,  I  expected  $2.50  wheat  to  carry  in  the  House  with  the  sup- 
port the  cotton  States  would  give  it,  but  most  of  the  cotton  States 
knifed  it  most  beastly.  Take  for  instance  the  Texas,  Georgia  and  Ken- 
tucky vote.  These  three  States  cast  31  votes  against  and  3  for.  The 
Missouri  delegation  didn't  vote  at  all.  If  it  did,  I  suppose  it  would 
have  voted  as  the  President  said.  Virginia  and  Oklahoma  are  the  only 
two  Southern  States  that  gave  their  entire  vote  for  $2.50  wheat.  The 
delegates  from  all  of  the  wheat  States  proper  voted  unanimously  for 
$2.50  wheat  except  Nebraska.  The  latter  State  cast  four  votes  for  and 
6  against  $2.50  wheat.  For  the  life  of  me  I  can't  understand  why  a 
majority  of  the  Nebraska  delegation  voted  against  $2.50  wheat.  If  I 
belonged  to  the  Farmers'  Union  of  Nebraska  I  would  ask  for  an  explana- 
tion from  the  Nebraska  delegation— the  reason  they  voted  against 
$2.50  wheat. 

"Senator  Norris  of  Nebraska  voted  against  $2.00  wheat  in  the  Sen- 
ate when  the  vote  was  taken  on  that  price  last  fall.  What's  the  matter 
with  Nebraska,  anyhow? 

"The  States  that  voted  solidly  for  $2.50  wheat  are :  Kansas,  Okla- 
homa, Wisconsin,  Idaho,  Washington,  Oregon,  Arizona,  Montana,  New 
Mexico,  South  Dakota,  North  Dakota,  Wyoming  and  Indiana.  Indiana 
casting  one  vote  against  and  11  for  $2.50  wheat,  is  entitled  to  a  place 
in  the  roll  of  honor  for  $2.50  wheat. 


86  FARMERS'  UNION ^AND  FEDERATION 

"There  is  no  doubt  but  labor  union  leaders  will  bring  all  the  pressure 
at  their  disposal  on  the  President  to  veto  $2.50  wheat.  But  the  Presi- 
dent should  remember  that  it  was  the  farmers'  vote  and  not  the  labor 
union  vote  that  elected  him." 

Why  the  President  Vetoed  the  $2.40  Wheat  Price. 

The  President  did  veto  the  bill  to  kill  the  $2.40  price  of 
wheat.  His  reasons  for  doing  so  follows.  The  figures  in 
parentheses^  are  mine,  to  indicate  where  my  answers  apply  in 
the  number  following : 

Washington,  July  12. — The  President's  message  follows : 
"I  regret  to  return  without  my  signature  so  important  a  measure  as 
H.  R.  9054,  entitled  'An  Act  Making  Appropriations  for  the  Department 
of  Agriculture  for  the  Fiscal  Year  ending  June  30,  1919,'  but  I  feel  con- 
strained to  do  so  because  of  my  earnest  dissent  from  the  point  of  view  of 
principle  as  well  as  wise  expediency  from  the  provisions  of  that  part  of 
Section  14  which  prescribes  a  uniform  minimum  price  for  No.  2  northern 
spring  wheat  of  $2.40  a  bushel.  (1)  I  dissent  upon  principle  because  I 
believe  that  such  inelastic  legislative  price  provisions  are  insusceptible 
of  being  administered  in  a  way  that  will  be  advantageous  either  to  the 
producer  or  to  the  consumer,  (2)  establishing  as  they  do,  arbitrary  levels 
which  are  quite  independent  of  the  normal  market  conditions  and  be- 
cause (3)  I  believe  that  the  present  method  of  regulation  by  conference 
with  all  concerned,  has  resulted  in  the  most  satisfactory  manner,  consid- 
ering the  complexity  and  variety  of  the  subject  matter  dealt  with.  It 
is  evident  that  the  present  method  of  determining  the  price  to  be  paid 
for  wheat  has  had  the  most  stimulating  effect  upon  production,  the  esti- 
mated crop  of  spring  wheat  for  this  year  exceeding  all  high  records  in  a 
very  remarkable  and  gratifying  way.  (4)  By  an  overwhelming  ma- 
jority of  the  farmers  of  the  United  States,  the  price  administratively 
fixed  has  been  regarded  fair  and  liberal,  and  objections  to  it  have  come 
only  from  those  sections  of  the  country  where,  unfortunately,  it  has,  in 
recent  years,  proved  impossible  to  rely  upon  climatic  conditions  to  pro- 
duce a  full  crop  of  wheat,  and  where,  therefore,  many  disappointments 
to  the  farmer  have  proven  to  be  unavoidable.  Personally,  I  do  not  be- 
lieve the  farmers  of  the  country  depend  upon  the  stimulation  of  price 
(5)  to  do  their  utmost  to  serve  the  nation  and  the  world  at  this  time  of 
crisis  by  exerting  themselves  to  an  extraordinary  degree  to  produce  the 
largest  and  best  crops  possible.  (6)  Their  patriotic  spirit  in  this  mat- 
ter has  been  worthy  of  all  praise,  and  has  shown  them  playing  a  most 
admirable  and  gratifying  part  in  the  full  mobilization  of  the  resources 


ADVOCATE  AND  GUIDE.  87 

of  the  country.  (7)  To  a  very  greatly  increased  production  of  wheat 
they  have  added  an  increased  production  of  almost  every  other  impor- 
tant grain,  so  that  our  granaries  are  likely  to  overflow,  and  the  anxiety 
of  the  nations  arrayed  against  Germany  with  regard  to  their  food  sup- 
plies has  been  relieved.  The  administrative  method  of  agreeing  upon 
a  fair  price  (8)  has  this  very  great  advantage,  which  any  element  of 
rigidity  would  in  large  part  destroy,  namely,  the  advantage  of  flexibility, 
of  rendering  possible  at  every  stage  and  in  the  view  of  every  change  of 
experience  a  readjustment  which  will  be  fair  alike  to  producer  and  con- 
sumer. A  fixed  minimum  price  of  $2.40  per  bushel  would,  it  is  estimated, 
add  $2  per  barrel  (9)  to  the  price  of  flour ;  in  other  words,  raise  the  price 
of  flour  from  the  present  price  of  $10.50  to  $12.50  at  the  mill,  and,  inas- 
much as  we  are  anticipating  a  crop  of  approximately  900,000,000  bushels 
of  wheat,  this  increase  would  be  equivalent  to  the  immense  sum  of 
$387,000,000.  ^uch  an  increase  of  the  price  of  wheat  in  the  United 
States  would  force  a  corresponding  increase  in  the  price  of  Canadian 
wheat.  The  allied  governments  would,  of  course,  be  obliged  to  make  all 
of  their  purchases  at  the  increased  figure  and  the  whole  scale  of  their  finan- 
cial operations  in  this  country,  in  which  the  government  of  the  United 
States  is  directly  assisting,  would  be  thereby  correspondingly  enlarged. 
(10)  The  increase  would  also  add  very  materially  to  the  cost  of  living, 
and  there  would  inevitably  ensue  an  increase  in  the  wages  paid  in  prac- 
tically every  industry  in  the  country.  These  added  financial  and  eco- 
nomic difficulties,  affecting  practically  the  whole  world,  cannot,  I  as- 
sume, have  been  in  contemplation  by  the  Congress  in  passing  this  legis- 
lation. 

"  (Signed)  Woodrow  Wilson." 

Comments  on  the  President's  Veto. 

I  shall  comment  briefly  on  ten  of  the  President's  reasons 
for  vetoing  the  $2.40  wheat  price,  as  my  insert  numbers  in 
the  message  indicate.  The  reader  can  refer  to  them  to  save 
repetition : 

(1)  As  the  cost  of  producing  wheat  had  greatly  advanced 
since  the  price  of  $2.20  was  set^  it  most  certainly  would  not 
have  been  disadvantageous  to  the  producer  to  have  had  that 
advance  added  to  his  product  as  other  classes  of  producers 
had. 

(2)  Do  not  scores  of  labor  unions,  producers  and  profiteerers 
arbitrarily  establish  higher  price  levels  for  their  products  re- 
gardless of  normal  market  conditions? 


88  FARMERS'  ZINION  AND  FEDERATION 

(3)  The  most  concerned  class — the  wheat  growers — were 
not  represented  in  the  conference  that  fixed  the  wheat  price. 
Nothing  could  be  more  unfair  than  to  call  in  representatives 
of  those  classes  interested  most  in  the  low  prices  of  flour 
and  bread  to  fix  the  price  on  wheat. 

(4)  It  is  doubtless  true  that  a  large  majority  of  the  farm- 
ers of  the  United  States  believe  the  wheat  price  high  enough, 
since  they  raise  no  wheat  and  must  buy  its  products.  But 
wheat  growers  alone  should  have  been  consulted.  .  Is  it  cus- 
tomary for  labor  unions  to  call  in  employers  to  dictate  their 
wages?  When  did  the  administration  call  in  only  the  con- 
sumers of  any  other  product  to  fix  the  price  on  it? 

(5)  I  wish  to  inform  the  President  that  the  size  of  the 
crop  and  amount  of  financial  aid  wheat  raisers  can  give  the 
government  depends  absolutely  on  the  price  of  wheat.  How 
can  they  finance  a  crop  in  advance  and  contribute  to  war 
work  and  buy  Liberty  Bonds  unless  they  receive  thieir  pre- 
vious year's  wages  and  overhead  expenses  in  the  price  of 
their  wheat?  In  many  localities  wheat  growers  have  been 
criticised  unmercifully  for  not  aiding  more.  They  were 
called  pro-Germans,  slackers,  tight-wads,  ingrates,  and  ev- 
erything mean  and  hateful,  because  they  could  not  do  their 
duty  owing  to  being  singled  out  for  unfair  discrimination. 

(6)  Flattery  is  very  nice  to  receive,  but  it  will  njot  buy 
Liberty  Bonds  nor  grub-stake  the  wheat  raiser.  So  he  is 
under  the  sordid  necessity  of  unionizing  to  enforce  fair  wages 
and  overhead  expenses  for  his  services.  I  do  not  doubt  for 
a  moment  that  our  good  and  wise  President  will  deny  it  to 
us  when  we  are  unionized  and  our  officials  make  known  to 
him  our  needs. 

(7)  It  is  very  gratifying  indeed  to  know  that  the  needs  of 
our  Allies  for  wheat  supplies  have  been  refieved.  It  is  now 
in  order  to  relieve  the  needs  of  wheat  growers  for  the  scores 
of  things  they  have  been  doing  without  by  increasing  their 
wages  so  they  can  buy  them. 


ADVOCATE  AND  GUIDE.  ^  89 

(8)  The  wheat  growers  are  consumers  of  hundreds  of  arti- 
cles, none  of  which  were  lowered  by  fifty  per  cent  of  their 
price  and  nailed  down  by  an  arbitrary  committee  of  con- 
sumers. How  does  it  come  that  sauce  for  the  goose  is  not 
sauce  for  the  gander? 

(9)  The  argument  that  twenty  cents  a  bushel  added  to  the 
price  of  wheat  would  have  necessitated  an  increase  of  $2.00 
a  barrel  for  flour  is  self-evidently  fallacious.  At  that  rate 
the  present  price  of  wheat  ($2.20)  would  make  flour  cost 
$22.00  a  barrel  instead  of  $10.50.  The  increase  would  not 
have  added  relatively  $1.00  to  the  price  of  flour.  However, 
not  one  cent  more  need  to  have  been  added  to  flour.  It 
could  have  been  deducted  from  the  millers'  profits  on  the 

.  by-products  of  wheat  that  were  allowed  them  above  the 
twenty-five  cents  a  barrel  profit  over  all  expenses. 

(10)  But,  Mr.  President,  could  you  not  have  vetoed  these 
expected  increases  in  wages  in  all  industries  just  as  you  are 
now  doing  to  the  attempted  increase  of  wages  by  the  wheat 
raisers?  How  does  it  come  you  allow  all  other  classes  to 
increase  their  wages  to  meet  the  increased  cost  of  living  and 
prohibit  only  wheat  growers  doing  so?  As  you  will  not 
answer  this  question,  I  shall  attempt  it  on  three  theories : 
First,  you  are  a  college-bred  man ;  not  having  ever  been  a 
farmer  or  the  son  of  one,  you  naturally  have  no  sympathy 
for  them  or  interest  in  their  welfare  or  problems.  Second, 
you  are  a  Southern  man,  where  they  are  more  interested  in 
high-priced  cotton  and  low-priced  flour,  and  you  would 
naturally  favor  the  former  at  the  expense  9f  the  latter. 
Third,  you  are  a  wise  poUtician  who  deals  only  with  the 
heads  of  organized  classes  who  have  the  power  to  aid  or 
injure  your  political  aspirations.  The  wheat  growers,  not 
being  organized,  are  unable  to  act  in  unison.  Their  votes 
are  only  so  much  waste  paper  to  clutter  up  ballot-boxes,  as 
they  divide  them  about  equally  between  the  Democrats  and 
Republicans,  thus  killing  their  own  political  power. 


90  FARMERS'  UNION  AND  FEDERATION 

The  only  remedy  for  them  is  to  unionize  and  allow  their 
elected  leaders  to  direct  them  how  to  vote  as  a  unit  for  the 
good  of  their  own  class.  Then  they  can  elect  men  who  are 
in  sympathy  with  them,  and  will  work  for  their  interest  as 
the  officials  elected  by  other  unionized  classes  do  for  them. 

How  to  Veto  the  President's  Veto. 

Now  that  the  wheat  producers  see  how  they  get  left  by 
leaving  others  to  price  their  product,  they  should  unionize 
at  once  to  take  over  that  most  important  function  to  them- 
selves. Had  they  been  unionized  their  national  officers 
could  have  gotten  for  them  most  any  price  they  asked  from 
Congress  and  the  President.  Failing  in  that,  their  national 
President  could  have  put  up  a  spiel  about  as  follows : 

**Now,  see  here!  All  other  classes  of  laborers  and  produc- 
ers are  naming  the  price  for  their  services,  and  you  have  per- 
mitted it.  Now  Congress  and  the  administration  may  stop 
wrangling  over  the  price  of  wheat,  and  we  who  produced  it 
will  attend  to  that  little  matter  ourselves.  All  our  last  year's 
wages  and  expenses,  amounting  to  several  billion  dollars, 
are  tied  up  in  this  crop,  and  we  alone  are  competent  to  set 
a  price  to  cover  it.  Our  expert  practical  wheat  growers 
from  different  States  have  reported  to  our  national  executive 
committee  that  the  cost  of  our  wheat  has  been  between 
$2.50  and  $3.50  a  bushel,  ■  owing  to  location  and  yield.  The 
committee  ordered  a  referendum  vote  of  our  members  on  the 
price  wanted,  limiting  it  to  anywhere  between  $2.50  and 
$3.25  a  bushel.  They  explained  to  them  their  patriotic 
duty  to  forego  any  profits,  and  even  donate  part  of  their 
labor  to  the  cause  of  lower  prices  for  food  as  a  loyal  duty  to 
our  government  and  our  Allies.  (Excuse  me  a  minute  to 
answer  the  phone.)  Well,  the  chairman  of  the  committee 
reports  the  result  of  the  vote  on  the  wheat  price.     It  is  $3.00 


ADVOCATE  AND  GUIDE.  91 

a  bushel  at  the  farmers'  home  market  for  No.  1  wheat,  and 
the  usual  discount  for  lower  grades.  That  price  will  hold 
good  on  this  crop.  We  will  let  you  know  later  what  next 
year's  wheat  price  will  be  when  we  ascertain  what  its  cost 
will  be." 

Only  Fair  Wages  and  Expenses  Needed  as  Stimulant. 

''Washington,  March  4. — Three-quarters  of  a  million  dollars  to  be 
distributed  by  the  Department  of  Agriculture  in  prizes  to  stimulate 
staple  food  production  is  provided  in  Ian  amendment  to  the  agricultural 
appropriation  bill  adopted  today  by  the  Senate.  During  the  debate 
Senator  Gore,  chairman  of  the  Agricultural  Committee ;  Senator  Reed> 
of  Missouri,  Democrat,  and  Senator  Wadsworth,  Republican,  attacked 
the  Food  Administration,  declaring  it  had  not  given  proper  consideration 
to  the  farmers."     -, 

Cut  it  out!  All  the  stimulant  to  raising  wheat  needed  and 
demanded  is  skilled  labor  wages  and  overhead  expenses.  All 
such  crop  prizes  are  snares  to  get  the  farmers  to  make  fools 
of  themselves  as  cheap  producers. 

By  unionizing  each  grower  is  to  get  the  prize  of  good  wages 
and  interest  every  year  on  his  crop. 

Methodist  Church  Tackles  the  Farm  Problem. 

"New  York,  Oct.  24. — To  help  make  farming  profitable  and  rural 
life  endurable  for  the  farmer,  his  wife,  his  sons  and  daughters,  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  has  undertaken  to  spend  $5,500,000  in 
training  rural  ministers  to  teach  scientific  farming  and  develop  social 
activity  in  country  districts.  The  purpose  as  announced  by  the  Board 
of  Home  Missions  and  Church  Extension  is  to  keep  the  farmers  on  the 
farms  and  thus  help  to  win  the  war.  Dissatisfaction  with  country  life, 
it  is  declared,  has  caused  a  decrease  of  rural  population  in  Ohio,  Indiana, 
Missouri,  Vermont,  and  New  Hampshire.  The  boys  and  girls  will  not 
stay  on  the  farm  when  high  wages  are  to  be  earned  nearer  the  moving 
picture  theatres.  To  combat  this,  the  Methodist  Church  is  planning 
to  send  many  of  its  best  men  to  the  country  churches,  of  which  it  has 
upward  of  12,000.  Rural  pastors  are  to  have  special  training  in  agri- 
culture so  as  to  help  farmers  with  advice.  Demonstration  farms  are  to 
be  established  where  agricultural  colleges  do  no^  rneet  the  needs.     Asso- 


92  FARMERS'  UNION  AND  FEDERATION 

ciations  of  rural  ministers  to  put  these  plans  into  effect  already  have 
been  started  in  Ohio,  West  Virginia,  Iowa,  South  Dakota,  Pennsylvania 
and  Nebraska.  Chairs  of  Rural  Sociology  to  teach  how  to  be  happy 
though  living  on  a  farm  have  been  established  in  theological  seminaries^ 
and  plans  are  making  to  start  similar  courses  in  colleges." 

Now,  Mr.  Methodist,  you  are  on  the  wrong  track  to  ac- 
complish your  object,  as  many  other  schemes  have  been. 
Take  a  pointer  frojn  me,  that  to  gain  your  laudable  aims 
you  must  give  up  the  idea  of  trying  to  increase  crop  pro- 
duction, as  that  results  in  making  matters  worse.  Devote 
all  your  efforts  to  unionizing  the  producers  of  each  product 
separately,  and  then  to  federating  those  unions  as  union 
labor  is  organized.  Teach  them  how  to  increase  their  wages 
by  the  minimum  price  system  as  herein  advocated  and  out- 
hned.  It  is  a  greatly  increased  flow  of  money  to  the  farms 
that  is  needed  to  gain  your  object,  and  that  cannot  be 
brought  about  in  any  other  way. 

Wages  That  Attract  Farmers  to  Cities. 

"  MouNDsyiLLE,  W.  Va.,  Sept.  14. — Charles  Fogel,  55,  a  miner,  has 
made  a  new  record  here  for  loading  coal.  In  one  day  he  loaded  30  tons 
and  17  hundredweight,  earning  $18.20  for  eight  hours'  work.  Fogel's 
pay  envelope  for  11  days  contained  $169.89." 

"CniCAao,  Oct.  9. — Sixty-four  dollars  for  eight  hours'  work  was  the 
record  established  by  one  riveter  at  the  South  Chicago  ship-building 
yard  Sunday,  it  was  announced  to  day.  The  week-day  scale  for  each 
rivet  is  8  cents  and  on  Sunday  this  is  raised  to  16  cents." 

Farmers  cannot  be  kept  on  the  farm  against  such  alluring 
wages  for  work  they  can  do  in  other  industries  unless  their 
wages  are  greatly  increased.  Unionize  and  increase  it  by 
the  minimum  price  system. 

Farmers  Give  Experience. 

Extracts  frorii  ''The  Race  Between  Time  and  Famine,"  by 
Frederick  F.  Ingram,  Detroit,  in  his  interviews  with  Michi- 
gan farmers  show  the  deplorable  condition  they  have  to 
contend  with.    Their  statements  follow  : 


ADVOCATE  AND  GUIDE.  93 

Wm.  H.  Merrick,  Hastings: 

"Retired  farmer,  owns  well  improved  160-acre  farm,  Hastings  Town- 
ship, within  easy  hauling  distance  of  market.  Says  it  has  heretofore 
been  impossible  to  get  a  fair  interest  on  capital  invested  in  his  farm  ex- 
cept at  the  expense  of  fertility  and  improvements,  but  for  the  past  two 
years  it  has  been  even  worse.  There  is  no  hired  help  and  it  is  difficult 
to  get  or  to  keep  tenants.  He  has  three  sons,  but  as  they  grew  to  man- 
hood, they  became  dissatisfied  and  left  him.  After  the  oldest  had  gone, 
he  turned  the  farm  to  the  next  oldest  on  shares,  he  (the  father)  moving 
into  town,  where  he  has  remained  ever  since.  After  a  few  years'  expe- 
rience this  son  left,  as  did  his  youngest  son  who  succeeded  him  on  the 
place.  Now  all  sons  are  away  for  good,  and  tenants  come  and  go,  the 
higher  wages  and  shorter  hours  tempting  them  to  leave  for  the  cities. 
Nothing  now,  Mr.  Merrick  says,  seems  to  work  out  well  for  the  farmer, 
either  the  man  that  furnishes  the  labor  or  the  man  that  furnishes  the 
farm  gets  left ;  very  often  both  do.  Says  no  farm  help  to  be  had.  Young 
men  get  more  wages  in  town,  and  with  $100  they  can  buy  furniture 
enough  to  get  married.  They  go  to  work  there  at  much  better  wages 
than  on  a  farm,  have  a  steady  job,  and  only  a  trifling  investment  of 
money  necessary.  To  own  a  farm  or  even  run  a  farm  under  the  same 
circumstances  is  hopeless.  They  can't  get  one  horse  with  $100,  while 
to  the  boy  ambitious  to  have  a  farm  of  his  own,  it  means  that  without 
financial  help  he  must  do  away  with  the  idea  of  getting  married,  for  the 
land  and  equipment  for  farming  cost  too  much.  In  addition  to  the  cost 
of  land,  he  must  expend  a  minimum  of  $2,000  for  stock  and  machinery 
to  get  a  fair  start.  It  is  getting  increasingly  difficult,  he  says,  for  farm- 
ers to  keep  their  own  boys  on  the  farm,  and  that  the  old  men  are  growing 
scarce  on  farms ;  that  farm  auctions  in  his  neighborhood  average  three 
a  week,  taking  up  much  of  the  farmers'  time,  caused  by  farmers  retiring, 
selling  out  or  renting,  or  going  out  of  the  milk  business  or  general  farm- 
ing and  going  into  hay.  Other  reasons :  in  debt  or  in  need  of  ready 
money,  or  short  of  feed  in  fall  or  seed  in  spring.  He  says  that  the  auc- 
tions are  an  economic  loss  to  the  community,  increasing  the  overhead 
cost  of  farming  and  compelling  farmers  in  many  instances  to  get  along 
with  less  machinery  than  they  should  have,  or  pay  more  to  replace  what 
they  want,  which,  together  with  the  failing  health  of  the  farmer  and 
their  sons  leaving  for  the  city  and  no  help  available,  is  a  great  injury  to 
general  farm  production." 

James  Mathews,  Doster: 

"Has  lived  in  the  neighborhood  since  childhood,  when  his  parents 
settled  there  on  a  farm.  Age  64.  He  has  owned  and  occupied  his  farm 
of  80  acres  since  his  marriage  in  his  early  manhood.     Does  general  farm- 


94  FARMERS'  UNION  AND  FEDERATION 

ing.  Soil  sand  loam  of  fair  quality,  but  shows  evidence  of  lack  of  suffi- 
cient live  stock  or  artificial  fertilizers  to  keep  up  fertility.  He  said  he 
had  worked  his  farm  all  his  working  days,  but  at  no  time  had  he  found 
getting  a  living  out  of  the  soil  so  difficult  as  in  the  last  two  years ;  crop 
yields  have  dwindled,  chance  for  profitable  returns  from  dairy  (which 
he  Jias  abandoned)  or  stock  raising  is  dubious,  hired  help  is  out  of  the 
question,  for  the  wages  that  must  be  paid  is  beyond  the  possibility  of 
coming  out  even  on  the  expense,  and  his  health  does  not  permit  him  now 
to  do  a  full  day's  work.  He  has  two  grown-up  sons,  both  steady  and 
sturdy  boys,  but  the  impossibility  of  getting  enough  returns  from  apply- 
ing their  labor  to  the  farm  caused  them  both  to  leave  it ;  one  is  now  the 
driver  of  rural  mail  route,  while  the  other  secured  employment  in  a  De- 
troit store.  Mr.  Matthews'  failing  health  made  it  impossible  for  him 
to  do  the  farm  work  this  year,  so  his  son  sacrificed  a  $100.00  a  month 
job  and  good  future  prospects  in  Detroit  and  is  now  helping  him  on  the 
farm.  He  says  he  has  been  trying  to  sell  his  farm  for  several  years,  and 
finally  did  sell  it  last  fall.  Then  at  an  auction  he  sold  off  all  his  tools, 
machinery  and  live  stock ;  but  when  the  time  came  for  the  buyer  to  take 
possession  of  the  farm  this  spring,  he  "backed  out"  and  the  tools,  ma- 
chinery and  live  stock  which  he  had  to  replace,  though  inadequately, 
has  caused  a  severe  financial  loss." 

R.  M.  Bates,  ex-Justice  of  the  Peace,  Hastings  Township: 

"Says  he  sold  his  rye  at  $2.70,  wheat  $2;  says  price  regulation  is  a 
cheat.  Wheat  is  lowest  because  at  a  set  price  is  regulated  and  other 
cereals  are  not  regulated;  wheat  production  is  very  unsatisfactory* 
more  so  than  rye,  which  winters  better  and  is  a  surer  crop,  besides  seed 
wheat  costs  $4  a  bushel.  Says  he  has  40  acres  of  wheat  from  which  he 
will  not  get  his  seed  back,  30  acres  more  will  yield  8  to  10  bushels  to  the 
acre.  Last  year  he  raised  150  hogs,  this  year  he  has  but  one  brood  sow. 
Claims  he  made  nothing  on  his  hogs  last  year  because  of  the  price  of 
corn,  and  that  there  isn't  any  foodstuff  now  at  a  price  that  will  permit 
the  raising  of  hogs,  and  that  the  government  has  not  made  a  move  but 
what  has  hurt  the  farmer.  Mr.  Bates  is  a  graduate  of  the  Michigan 
Agricultural  College,  a  well  read  and  studious  farmer.  Has  several 
hundred  acres." 

James  Ollette,  Van  Buren  Township: 

"Farm  of  50  acres,  good  land,  well  cultivated.  He  has  coops  and 
complete  plant  for  chicken  farm,  and  until  last  year  carried  1,000  hens ; 
now  only  15  or  20  running  around  loose.  Says  he  could  not  make 
chickens  pay  with  chicken  feed  at  $4.80  per  hundred  pounds  and  grain 
equally  high.    Says  also  there  is  no  money  in  milk,  so  he  is  keeping  less 


ADVOCATE  AND  GUIDE.  95 

cows.  Can't  get  hired  help,  and  his  son  has  gone  to  the  city,  so  he  and 
his  wife  are  doing  all  the  work  and  raise  just  enough  to  pay  their  taxes 
and  to  buy  the  necessities  and  manage  to  get  along.  Money  can  be 
made  buying  and  selling  farms,  but  not  in  working  farms ;  besides,  if 
you  work  a  farm  and  keep  it  up,  your  taxes  are  two  or  three  times  as 
much  as  they  will  be  if  you  let  it  run  down.  Repairs  and  tools  have  gone 
out  of  sight  in  price,  plow  points  now  cost  $1.25  each  and  mould  boards 
$9.00,  all  a  whole  plow  cost  three  or  four  years  ago.  It  is  risky  to  try 
to  put  in  crops  with  everything  so  high  and  expect  to  get  your  money 
back,  so  he  is  doing  less  cropping  and  claims  most  farmers  are  doing  the 
same,  mentioning  his  neighbors,  amongst  others,  Albert  Bird,  who  has 
a  fine  farm  of  160  acres  and  formerly  did  extensive  farming,  now  farms 
only  25  acres  and  leaves  the  balance  idle ;  and  David  Owen,  who  has 
left  his  farm,  well  improved,  105  acres,  untilled,  and  works  in  a  Detroit 
factory,  coming  home  Saturday  nights." 

Frank  Clark,  Banker,  Belleville: 

"He  said  that  farming  viewed  from  a  business  standpoint  at  present 
is  not  attractive.  The  farmer,  however,  is  cautious  and  conservative, 
and  is  reducing  his  operations,  dispensing  with  hired  labor  and  producing 
less,  and  is  in  that  way  managing  to  get  along,  if  he  is  satisfied  with  the 
small  returns.  When  he  is  not,  he  quits  farming  for  something  else ; 
usually  goes  to  work  in  the  city  factories.  Regulating  the  price  of  wheat 
has  reduced  the  acreage  of  wheat  and  increased  the  acreage  of  rye, 
which  now  pays  better.  He  says  quite  a  business  is  being  done  in  the 
sale  of  unworked  or  run-down  farms  by  city  real  estate  agents,  but  it  is 
principally  the  trading  of  equities,  trading  a  mortgaged  house  in  the 
city  for  a  mortgaged  farm  in  the  country,  in  both  cases  the  owner  being 
a  city  working  man  who  knows  nothing  about  farming.  A  short  expe- 
rience on  the  farm  causes  him  to  list  it  with  the  same  real  estate  man 
from  whom  he  bought,  who  sells  it,  or  trades  it  to  another  man  in  the 
city  who  thinks  there  is  big  money  in  farming  on  account  of  the  high 
price  of  food  products.  So  often  the  same  farm  is  sold  two  or  three 
times  in  a  year.  Very  seldom  does  a  purchaser  remain  long  on  these 
farms,  for  the  most  experienced  farmer  would  find  it  extremely  difficult 
to  make  a  living  on  such  farms." 

Walter  Bros.,  Drovers: 

"Says  :  Ten  years  ago  they  shipped  from  one  to  four  carloads  of  live 
stock  a  week ;  now  they  scarcely  average  one  a  week.  They  are  the 
only  buyers  in  the  neighborhood  now,  and  to  get  one  car  a  week  must 
drive  three  or  four  times  as  many  miles,  adding  new  territory.  There 
are  no  sheep  left.     Hogs  have  decreased  more  than  half.     Cattle  at 


96  FARMERS'  UNION  AND  FEDERATION 

least  one-half,  and  mostly  dairy  cows  being  sold  out ;  very  little  in  beef 
breeds  are  being  raised.  Less  poultry  is  going  to  market,  the  big  pro- 
ducers have  quit  the  business,  as  there  is  no  money  in  it  at  the  present 
prices  of  grain  and  chicken  feed.  But  few  farmers  raise  a  surplus,  for 
the  chickens  must  depend  upon  foraging  and  taking  care  of  themselves 
in  flocks  of  15  or  20  to  a  farm  instead  of  75  to  100  as  was  the  case  several 
years  ago."  ^ 

And  so  goes  the  hard  luck  stories  in  poultry,  dairy  and  gen- 
eral farming  through  many  more  pages.  I  shall  give  some 
of  Mr.  Ingram's  comments  on  the  situation  in  the  following 
number : 

Manufacturer  Investigates  Farm  Conditions. 

Extracts  from  Mr.  Ingram's  comments  and  theory,  from 
his  pamphlet : 

"  (Mr.  Ingram  is  a  manufacturer  in  Detroit,  Michigan,  but  he  was  born  and  raised 
on  a  farm  and  has  owned  and  operated  several.  His  investigations  and  their  publi- 
cation he  undertook  merely  to  draw  attention  to  a  situation  that  should  be  heeded  and 
to  flash  forth  a  warning  which  he  believes  imperative  because  our  food  supply  is  being 
seriously  threatened.) — Joseph  J.  Crowley,  President  Detroit  Board  of  Commerce." 

"The  average  wages  of  farm  hands  the  country  over  last  year  were 
$28.87  a  month  with  board,  and  $40.43  a  month  without  board.  The 
average  wage  of  section  hands  on  the  railroads  was  $58.25  a  month. 
This  means  that  farm  workers  who  must  have  special  training,  receive 
$10  a  month  less  than  the  least  skilled  type  of  workers,  most  of  whom 
also  live  in  the  country,  under  the  same  cost  of  living,  where  their  pres- 
ence is  a  constant  reminder  to  the  farm  worker  of  his  inferior  wage  con- 
dition, working -as  he  does  12  and  sometimes  14  hours  a  day,  to  the 
railroad  man's  8  hours. 

"This  section  of  Wayne  County,  noted  for  its  poultry  farms,  has  but 
few'  left,  and  none  that  I  could  find  that  were  running  anywhere  near 
at  full  capacity.  For  instance,  Monroe  Stokes  did  carry  an  average  of 
one  thousand  hens,  now  averages  200;  Herman  Soop  carried  500  to 
600,  now  100  to  300 ;  Geo.  T.  Clark  carried  400  to  500,  coops  now  all 
empty;  James  Ollett  carried  full  coops,  now  all  empty;  Mr.  Hamilton 
carried  full  coops,  now  all  empty. 

"Even  on  general  farms,  actively  operated,  where  chickens  can  almost 
pick  up  their  living  by  ranging  the  orchards  and  fields  and  can  be  raised 
at  the  minimum  cost,  flocks  are  now  reduced  from  75  to  100  head  to 
15  or  20  head.     .     .    . 


ADVOCATE  AND  GUIDE.  97 

Poor,  neglected  and  worn-out  farms  are  sold  and  resold  to  city  non- 
farmers  at  such  alniost  unbelievable  figures  that  it  has  become  a  regular 
occupation  for  real  estate  speculators. 

"Little  or  no  crop  raising  is  done  on  such  farms,  for  skilled  farmers 
cannot  make  a  living  working  them.  It  is  men  from  the  city  who  know 
nothing  about  farming  that  buy  them.  As  a  consequence,  such  farms 
become  mere  trading  propositions  and  go  unworked,  though  continually 
changing  hands  at  from  $100  to  $150  an  acre  and  even  higher  figures. 
These  farms  change  hands  so  fast,  he  says,  that  the  postoffice  and  R.  F. 
D.  carrier  can't  keep  track  of  the  mail  which  accumulates  at  the  post- 
office. 

"He  gave  numerous  instances,  all  of  Sumpter  Township.  Amongst 
others  he  mentioned  Eugene  Spence,  who  sold  his  farm  of  20  acres  for 
$160  cash.  It  then  changed  hands  rapidly,  once  a  month  part  of  the 
time,  for  12  months  and  the  other  day  it  was  sold  for  $3,200 ;  poor  land, 
sand  hills  mostly,  old  and  worthless  improvements. 

"Adjoining  it  is  the  40-acre  farm  of  Ernest  Near,  equally  worthless. 
He  sold  it  to  a  Mr.  Moon  for  $1,300.  It  recently  sold,  he  heard,  for 
$7,000  after  changing  hands  four  times.  This  all  happened  during  the 
past  18  months. 

"I  visited  Irving  Township  which  is  purely  agricultural,  containing 
no  towns  or  even  villages,  talked  with  a  number  of  farmers,  and  learned 
that  in  some  of  the  school  districts  they  are  having  no  school.  District 
No.  2,  for  instance,  which  at  one  time  had  40  pupils  in  attendance,  has 
now  but  one  child  of  school  age  within  its  boundaries,  so  the  school  is 
closed  and  this  one  child  is  by  an  arrangement,  getting  its  schooling  in 
another  district. 

"  This  is  typical  of  several  districts  in  this  township,  and  I  was  told  in 
other  of  the  purely  rural  townships.  One  school  district  in  Rutland 
Township  at  one  time  having  30  pupils,  has  had  but  three  the  past  two 
or  three  years.  They  don't  even  raise  children  here  now.  One  farmer 
remarked  that  when  his  parents  came  to  that  district  in  the  '60's,  there 
were  generally  four  or  five  or  more  children  to  a  family — his  own  family 
had  seven — and  he  proceeded  to  name  his  neighbors,  picking  out  five 
or  six  that  had  but  one  child  in  the  family  and  some  that  had  none. 

"The  country  church,  a  fair  sized  building  that  must  have  taxed  the 
neighborhood  to  erect,  has  been  closed  for  ten  years.  The  Grange  Hall 
in  the  vicinity  is  now  the  common  meeting  place  for  social  affairs.  The 
average  attendance  at  Grange  meetings  is  about  thirty.     .     .     . 

"John  B.  Ketcham,  Master  of  the  Michigan  State  Grange,  in  the 
Free  Press  of  March  19th  says  :  'The  wholesale  price  paid  at  Greenville 
(Central  Michigan)  for  potatoes  is  less  than  thirty-five  cents  a  bushel.' 


98  FARMERS'  UNION  AND  FEDERATION 

The  figures  of  the  Michigan  Cost  Commission  show  the  average  cost  of 
producing  potatoes  in  Michigan  in  1917  was  903^  cents  per  bushel. 
However,  while  the  farmer  was  getting  only  thirty-five  cents  per  bushel 
for  his  90-cent  potatoes,  people  in  Detroit  were  paj^ing  50  cents  per  peck, 
or  S2.00  a  bushel.     .     .     . 

"In  discussing  crop  outlooks  for  Michigan  June  1st,  State  Market 
Director  J.  N.  McBide  of  Michigan  says  :  'An  effort  was  made  to  secure 
from  Michigan  farmers  this  year  a  crop  of  25,000,000  bushels  of  wheat. 
The  prospects  now  are,  "it  will  take  remarkably  good  weather  for 
Michigan  to  provide  10,000,000  bushels.  Weather  conditions  reduced 
the  yield  and  price-fixing  reduced  the  acreage  sown,"  as  will  be  found 
in  interviews  with  farmers  farther  on.'     .     .     . 

"  W.  A.  Nehf,  editor  of  the  Chicago  Daily  Drovers'  Journal,  at  the  an- 
nual convention  of  the  National  Live  Stock  Exchange  in  New  York, 
is  quoted  in  the  Detroit  Times  of  May  18th  as  saying:  'Although  pre- 
vailing prices  of  meat  seem  high  to  consumers,  I  know  many  farmers  who 
have  fed  cattle  and  hogs  at  a  loss  during  the  past  season.  Prices  of 
commodities  the  farmer  must  buy  have  risen  out  of  all  proportion  to 
the  prices  he  gets  for  his  stock.  The  greatest  work  facing  the  govern- 
ment, I  believe,  is  that  of  assuring  the  producer  a  fair  margin  of  profit. 
We  cannot  expect  the  farmer's  patriotism  to  exceed  that  of  others  to 
such  an  extent  that  he  will  increase  his  live  stock  production  if  he  knows 
that  in  so  doing  he  will  incur  additional  economical  loss.' 

"With  the  farmers  of  Sumpter  and  Van  Buren  Townships,  Wayne 
County.  These  townships  are  in  the  southwestern  corner  of  the  county, 
24  to  30  miles  from  Detroit.  They  contain  no  cities,  but  have  good 
marketing  facilities,  and  are  mostly  good  farming  land. 

"The  exception  is  about  half  of  Sumpter  Township,  which  is  oak 
openings,  of  low  fertility  value  under  the  best  of  circumstances. 

"Under  present  circumstances,  these  farms  are  not  producing  enough 
food  to  even  supply  the  food  requirements  of  the  farm  itself.  Usually 
what  improvements  exist  are  old,  neglected,  out  of  repair  and  of  little 
value  and  of  less  usefulness. 

"The  ownership  of  these  farms  has  passed  into  the  hands  of  specu- 
lators or  their  victims,  and  the  land  shows  little  or  no  evidence  of  in- 
telligent farming.  Such  farms  are  frequently  changing  ownership,  in 
some  cases  three  or  four  times  a  year.  The  city  real  estate  dealer  finds 
no  difficulty  in  getting  buyers  at  prices  far  beyond  actual  value  of  even 
good  farms,  for  the  city  worker  who  knows  nothing  about  farming  is 
easily  persuaded  because  of  the  high  price  for  all  farm  products  that 
farming  must  be  a  money-making  business. 


f 


ADVOCATE  AND  GUIDE.  99 

"Soon  after  he  has  invested  his  all  in  one  of  these  farms,  his  dis- 
couraging experience  in  attempting  to  live  on  it,  prompts  him  to  list 
it  for  sale  with  the  same  real  estate  man  from  whom  he  bought  and  after 
paying  his  agent  a  liberal  commission,  he  unloads  it  on  another  victim 
to  the  financial  loss  of  all  parties  concerned  except  the  real  estate  man, 
who  always  gets  his  commission." 

Government  Receivership  of  Farms  Suggested. 

As  a  remedy  for  the  foregoing  predicament  of  farmers, 
Mr.  Ingram  suggests  a  government  receivership  for  farms  as 
bankrupt  railroads  are  taken  over  temporarily  and  rehabili- 
tated.    Some  of  his  reasons  for  this  course  are  : 

"There  is  something  serious  the  matter  with  farming  as  an  industry. 
It  is  a  vital  industry.  The  farmer  does  the  best  he  can,  but  he  has  got- 
ten into  a  situation  which,  when  reached  in  other  industries  of  such  vital 
importance,  becomes  a  matter  of  governmental  concern ;  a  receiver  is 
appointed  and  the  industry  under  governmental  operation  is  reorganized 
and  revitalized  for  the  comnion  good.     .     .     . 

"Farming  should  be  put  in  the  hands  of  a  receiver  and  the  receiver 
should  be  the  President.  Not  all  farms  or  all  farming,  but  enough  and 
in  different  sections  so  that  the  authorities  may  determine  and  remove 
the  causes  that  so  seriously  interfere  with  food  production. 

"  Why,  the  price  of  some  foods  is  so  high  in  the  cities  that  only  a  few 
can  buy  them,  while  at  the  same  time  the  price  the  farmer  gets  is  so  low 
he  can't  afford  to  raise  them. 

"The  government  as  receiver  for  the  farms  it  takes  over  should  allow 
the  owner  a  fair  return  on  his  investment  in  improvements,  machinery 
and  live  stock,  and  allow  for  depreciation.  If  the  owner  is  a  practical 
and  industrious  farmer,  pay  hiri  a  salary  for  superintendence.  Fur- 
nish him  with  or  finance  him  for,  the  necessary  fertiHzer,  seed  and  other 
necessities  of  the  business.  Permit  him  to  pay  the  wages  that  will 
attract  the  necessary  labor.  ObHge  him  to  account  for  everything. 
Take  the  farm  products  at  the  cost  shown,  to  supply  the  government's 
and  our  Alhes'  needs  and  have  the  balance,  not  needed  locally,  trans- 
ported by  the  government-operated  railroads  to  government  ware- 
houses in  the  cities  where  all,  dealers  or  consumers,  can  go  and  get  it 
by  paying  its  actual  cost  delivered  at  that  warehouse." 

Comments :  Mr.  Ingram's  plan  leaves  out  interest  to  the 
owner  on  the  cost,  or  value,  of  his  land  which  could  not  be 
permitted  in  justice  to  other  farmers.     With  that  added  I 


100  FARMERS'  UNION  AND  FEDERATION 

believe  most  farmers  would  be  glad  to  turn  over  their  farms 
to  the  government  on  the  above  terms  and  move  their  fam- 
ilies to  town.  But  why  couldn't  the  government  be  as  lib- 
eral with  the  farmers  in  taking  over  their  farms  as  with  the 
railroads  which  were  guaranteed  a  profit  equaling  their  three 
most  prosperous  years? 

The  government  could  not  be  permitted  to  engage  in 
farming  for  the  purpose  of  cheapening  farm  products  for  city 
consumption,  if  it  resulted  in  lowering  their  price  at  the 
farms,  without  requiring  the  government  to  also  take  over 
and  operate  the  factories  that  produce  what  farmers  need  at 
a  correspondingly  lower  price.  However,  his  plan  would 
further  reduce  the  rural  population  and  increase  that  of  the 
cities.  Then,  again,  if  the  government  did  not  do  a  more 
economical  business  at  farming  than  it  did  in  most  of  its 
war  work  it  would  more  than  quadruple  the  cost  of  its  pro- 
ducts instead  of  cheapening  them. 

Everything  considered,  the  unionizing  of  the  farmers  to 
inaugurate  the  minimum  price  system  is  by  far  the  best. 

Enormous  Profits  Allowed  Food  Dealers. 

The  Merchants  Journal  of  November  16,  1918,  contains 
the  following  '^  Weekly  Bulletin  of  Government  Food  Regu- 
lations" for  the  guidance  of  merchants  : 

MAXIMUM  MARGINS  ON  SALES  BY  RETAILERS  TO  CONSUMERS. 

(Issued  by  the  U.  S.  Food  Administration  November  7,  1918.) 
The  Food  Administration  has  determined  that  any  sales  of  food 
commodities  at  a  gross  margin  above  delivered  cost  in  excess  of  those 
indicated  below  are  unreasonable,  and  will  be  regarded  as  prima  facie 
evidence  of  a  violation  of  the  statute  and  of  the  above  regulation.  Per- 
centage may  be  calculated  on  the  selling  price.  Delivered  cost  shall 
mean  the  cost  at  the  railroad,  steamboat  or  other  terminal  in  the  re- 
tailer's town.  Where  the  retailer  is  not  located  in  a  railroad  or  steam- 
boat town  he  may  include  any  hauling  charge  in  the  delivered  cost. 

The  lesser  margin  indicated  is  not  a  minimum  margin,  but  is  a  max- 
imum margin  for  those  whose  cost  of  doing  business  is  less,  such  as 
stores  which  do  not  perform  the  services  of  credit  and  delivery.     Any 


ADVOCATE  Am^GUlDE.,  ^^  ^  ..,^ 


101 


change  from  the  pre-war  practice  in  cash  discount  terms  or  other  change 
which  tend  to  or  result  in  increasing  the  margin  of  profit  allowed  will  be 
dealt  with  as  an  unfair  practice. 

The  retailer  may  have  the  benefit  of  fractional  costs  on  each  trans- 
action ;  that  is,  he  may  calculate  the  total  charge  to  a  customer  on  any 
transaction  as  if  fractional  costs  were  not  allowed,  and  if  the  result  is 
a  fraction,  he  may  add  thereto  such  fraction  of  a  cent  as  may  be  neces- 
sary to  make  a  price  in  even  cents.  The  following  table  gives  an  ex- 
ample in  the  case  of  eggs,  using  the  cash  and  carry  margin  of  seven 
cents  per  dozen : 


Amount  of 
Sale 

Cost 

Margin 

Total 

Fraction 
Added 

Maximum 
Selling 
Price 

1  doz 

2  doz 

3  doz 

$0,461^ 

.923^ 

1.38M 

7  cents 
14  cents 
21  cents 

$0,531^ 
1.063^ 
1.593^ 

$0.54 
1.07 
1.60 

MAXIMUM  MARGINS. 

Flour  List. 

Victory,  original  packages,  J^-barrel  quantities  or  more,  $1  to  $1.20 
per  barrel. 

Victory,  orginal  packages,  34-barrel  quantities  or  less,  $1.35  to  $1.60 
per  barrel. 

Victory,  broken  packages,  13^c.  per  pound. 

Wheat,  original  packages,  3^-barrel  quantities  or  more,  $1  to  $1.20 
per  barrel.  ' 

Wheat,  original  packages,  i^-barrel  quantities  or  less,  $1.35  to  $1.60 
per  barrel. 

Wheat,  broken  packages,  I3^c.  per  pound. 

Barley,  original  packages,  18  to  22  per  cent. 

Barley,  broken  packages,  I3^c.  per  pound. 

Rye,  original  packages,  18  to  22  per  cent. 

Rye,  broken  packages,  13^c.  per  pound. 

Corn,  original  packages,  18  to  22  per  cent. 

Corn,  broken  packages,  I3^c.  per  pound. 

Rice,  18  to  22  per  cent. 

Corn  meal,  bulk,  13^c.  per  pound. 

Corn  meal,  original  packages,  18  to  22  per  cent. 

Hominy,  I3^c.  per  pound. 

Sugar,  all  kinds  in  bulk,  I3^c.  per  pound. 

Sugar,  all  kinds  in  refiners'  original  packages,  Ic.  per  pound. 


102.    ...    FARMERS'  UNION  AND  FEDERATION 

Evaporated  milk,  unsweetened,  18  to  22  per  cent. 

Oatmeal  and  rolled  oats,  bulk,  13^c.  per  pound. 

Oatmeal  and  rolled  oats,  original  packages,  20  to  25  per  cent. 

Rice,  20  to  25  per  cent. 

Beans,  white  or  colored,  20  to  25  per  cent. 

Starch,  edible,  20  to  25  per  cent. 

Corn  syrup,  tins,  20  to  25  per  cent. 

Canned  corn,  peas  and  tomatoes,  standard  grades,  25  to  30  per  cent. 

Canned  salmon  chums,  pink,  and  red,  25  to  30  per  cent. 

Canned  sardines,  domestic,  25  to  30  per  cent. 

Dried  fruit,  raisins,  prunes,  and  peaches,  25  to  30  per  cent. 

Lard,  pure  leaf,  bulk,  5c.  to  6c.  per  pound. 

Lard,  pure  leaf,  tins,  18  to  22  per  cent. 

Lard  substitutes,  bulk,  5c.  to  6c.  per  pound. 

Lard  substitutes,  tins,  18  to  22  per  cent. 

Breakfast  bacon,  whole  pieces,  6c.  to  7c.  per  pound. 

Heavy  bacon,  whole  pieces,  5c.  to  6c.  per  pound. 

Hams,  smoked  whole,  6c.  to  7c.  per  pound. 

In  quoting  sliced  ham  and  bacon  add  usual  differential  to  cover 
actual  shrinkage. 

"Original  packages"  as  used  above  means  where  retailer  sells  prod- 
uct in  the  same  mill  container  as  received  by  him. 

"Broken  packages"  means  when  retailer  removes  contents  from 
original  mill  packages  and  sells  in  smaller  quantities. 

By  other  special  regulations  the  retailers'  maximum  margins  have 
also  been  fixed  in  accordance  with  the  following  list : 

Potatoes,  white  or  Irish,  25  to  30  per  cent. 

Onions,  25  to  30  per  cent. 

Eggs  (whether  sold  in  carton  or  not),  7c.  to  8c.  per  dozen. 

Butter,  6c,  to  7c.  per  pound. 

Butter  substitutes,  oleomargarine,  nutmargarine,  etc.,  5c.  to  6c.  per 
pound. 

Cheese,  American,  cheddars,  twins,  fiats,  daisies,  long  horns,  and 
Y.  A.'s,  7e.  to  8c.  per  pound. 

The  maximum  selling  price  for  the  extra  service  or  credit  and  deliv- 
ery stores  would  be  one  cent  per  dozen  higher.  In  determining  margins 
at  7  cents  and  8  cents  per  dozen  on  eggs  with  fractional  cost  in  the  deal- 
er's favor,  the  United  States  Food  Administration  has  given  due  con- 
sideration to  the  rising  costs  of  operation  which  must  be  met  by  the 
dealer. 


ADVOCATE  AND  GUIDE.  103 

The  farmers  may  well  envy  the  retailer  of  these  goods  his 
allowed  profits,  for  did  they  receive  a  proportional  reward 
for  producing  these  products  according  to  their  work,  ex- 
posure and  expense  they  would  receive  ten  times  as  much  as 
they  do. 

Study  these  allowed  profits  and  compare  the  ease  with 
which  they  are  made  to  that  of  the  farmer  in  producing 
these  products,  and  you  will  see  at  once  the  disadvantage 
of  the  farmer  if  you  have  had  any  experience  in  farming. 
And  remember  the  grocer  can  turn  his  money  daily,  weekly 
or  monthly  while  the  farmer  can  only  annually. 

Only  through  unionizing  to  inaugurate  the  minimum 
price  system  can  they  ever  expect  to  get  fair  wages  out  of 
production. 

How  Business  Men  Figure  Overhead  Expenses. 

RULES  ON  COSTS  AND   PROFITS. 

"As  the  latest  dope  is  that  the  U.  S.  Food  Administration  may  not 
only  issue  an  order  eliminating  free  delivery  but  may  require  all  mer- 
chants to  keep  an  accurate  record  of  costs,  here  are  the  rules  of  the 
National  Association  of  credit  men  for  figuring  costs  and  profits : 

"1.  Charge  interest  on  the  net  amount  of  your  total  investment  at 
the  beginning  of  your  business  year,  exclusive  of  real  estate. 

"2,  Charge  rental  on  real  estate  or  buildings  owned  by  you  and 
used  in  your  business  at  a  rate  equal  to  what  you  would  receive  if  rent- 
ing or  leasing  to  another. 

"3.  Charge  in  addition  to  what  you  pay  for  hired  help  an  amount 
to  what  your  services  would  be  worth  to  others;  also  treat  in  a  like 
manner  the  services  of  any  other  of  your  family  regularly  employed. 

"4.  Charge  depreciation  on  all  goods  carried  over  on  which  you  may 
have  to  make  a  less  price  because  of  change  of  style,  damage,  etc. 

"5.  Charge  depreciation  on  buildings,  tools,  fixtures  and  everything 
else  suffering  from  age  or  wear  and  tear. 

"6.  Charge  amounts  donated  and  subscriptions  paid. 

"7.  Charge  all  fixed  expenses,  such  as  taxes,  insurance,  water,  lights, 
fuel,  etc. 

"8.  Charge  losses  of  every  character,  including  goods  stolen,  or  sent 
out  and  not  charged,  allowances  made  customers,  all  bad  debts. 

"9.  Charge  collection  expenses  and  other  expenses  not  above  enu- 
merated. 


104  FARMERS'  UNION  AND  FEDERATION 

"  10.  When  you  have  ascertained  what  the  sum  of  all  the  foregoing 
items  amount  to,  prove  it  by  your  books,  and  you  will  have  your  total 
expenses  for  the  year;  divide  this  by  your  total  sales  and  the  result 
will  show  you  the  per  cent  it  has  cost  you  to  do  business. 

"11.  Take  this  per  cent  and  deduct  it  from  the  price  of  any  article 
you  have  sold,  then  subtract  from  the  remainder  and  what  it  cost  you 
(invoice  price  and  freight)  and  the  result  will  show  your  net  profit  or 
loss  on  the  article. 

''Definite  records  will  be  necessary  for  some  time  to  come.  The 
only  way  to  have  these  records  is  to  do  your  figuring  as  you  go  along. 
The  local  assessor  reports  direct  to  the  government;  the  income  tax 
reports  should  agree  as  near  as  possible.  It  behooves  every  merchant 
no  matter  how  small,  to  be  prepared  to  make  a  report  to  himself  or  the 
government  at  any  time." 

These  would  be  good  rules  for  the  wheat  growers'  union 
to  adopt  in  figuring  out  the  overhead  expenses  of  raising 
wheat  when  fixing  its  minimum  price. 

Warning  to  Soldiers  to  Pass  Up  Farming. 

Unionized  labor  will  do  all  in  its  power  to  steer  return- 
ing soldiers  to  homesteads  on  worthless  government  lands 
where  they  will  while  away  their  time  in  poverty  to  keep 
them  from  competing  for  the  big  wages  in  cities,  and  where 
it  is  hoped  they  will  produce  great  quantities  of  food  for  the 
cities  at  the  low  prices  of  pre-war  times.  Government  of- 
ficials, also  desiring  cheap  food,  will  readily  unite  with  labor 
to  settle,  the  soldiers  on  land.  In  President  Wilson's  mes- 
sage to  Congress  before  leaving  for  Europe  he  says  on  this 
subject : 

"I  particularly  direct  your  attention  to  the  very  practical  plans 
which  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior  has  developed  in  his  annual  report 
and  before  your  committees  for  the  reclamation  of  arid,  swamp  and 
cut-over  lands  which  might,  if  the  States  were  willing  and  able  to  co- 
operate, redeem  some  300,000,000  acres  of  land  for  cultivation.  There 
are  said  to  be  15,000,000  or  20,000,000  acres  of  land  in  the  West,  at 
present  arid,  for  whose  reclamation  water  is  available  if  properly  con- 
served. There  are  about  230,000,000  acres  from  which  the  forests  liave 
been  cut  but  which  have  never  yet  been  cleared  for  the  plow,  and  which 


ADVOCATE  AND  GUIDE.  105 

lie  waste  and  desolate.  These  lie  scattered  all  over  the  Union.  And 
there  are  nearly  80,000,000  acres  of  land  that  lie  under  swamps  or 
are  subject  ti  periodical  overflow  or  are  too  wet  for  anything  but 
grazing,  which  it  is  perfectly  feasible  to  drain  and  protect  and  redeem. 
Congress  can  at  once  direct  thousands  of  the  returning  soldiers  to  the 
reclamation  of  the  arid  lands  which  it  has  already  undertaken,  if  it 
will  but  enlarge  the  plans  and  the  appropriations  which  it  has  en- 
trusted to  the  Department  of  the  Interior.  It  is  possible  in  dealing 
with  our  unused  land  to  effect  a  great  rural  and  agricultural  department 
which  will  afford  the  best  sort  of  opportunity  to  men  who  want  to 
help  themselves;  and  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior  has  thought  the 
possible  methods  out  in  a  way  which  is  worthy  of  your  most  friendly 
attention." 

"Chicago,  April  11. — Plans  of  the  administration  to  reclaim  millions 
of  acres  in  the  Western  and  Middle  Western  country  and  give  these  to 
the  soldiers  who  come  from  'over  there'  were  disclosed  by  Secretary  of 
the  Interior  Lane,  speaking  at  the  sixth  annual  convention  of  the  Cham- 
ber of  Commerce  of  the  United  States.  '  I  propose  to  take  enough  men 
from  the  returned  army  to  work  to  irrigate  1,000,000  or  more  acres 
along  the  Colorado  River,  and  give  each  man  40  acres  and  a  house  and 
stock  in  payment.  I  can  give  you  4,000,000  acres  of  irrigable  land  if 
you  will  give  me  the  hands.  There  are  also  15,000,000  acres  of  over- 
flowed lands  in  the  Mississippi  Valley.  Build  dykes,  save  that  land 
and  divide  it  among  the  men,'  he  said." 

''San  Francisco,  Cal.,  Oct.  22. — Eleven  million  acres  of  'logged- 
off  timber  land  en  the  Pacific  coast  might  be  reclaimed  ani  used  for 
agricultural  purposes,  according  to  the  statement  of  Walter  H.  Graves, 
whose  appointment  by  Secretary  Lane  as  an  engineer  of  the  reclama- 
tion service,  was  recently  announced.  Mr.  Graves  has  been  instructed 
to  make  a  study  of  the  large  districts  of  cut-over  timber  land  in  the 
West  for  the  purpose  of  determining  its  availability,  when  cleared,  for 
farms  for  soldiers  after  the  war.  The  land  denuded  of  timber  would 
have  to  be  cleared  of  the  encumbering  logs,  stumps  and  brush.  The 
redemption  of  this  vast  wilderness,  it  is  estimated,  would  add  $2,000,- 
000,000  to  the  farm  wealth  of  the  Pacific  States.  The  cost  of  clearing 
the  land  would  be  less  than  the  value  of  the  land  if  improved  mechani- 
cal devices  were  used,  Mr.  Graves  said." 

"Ottawa,  Ont.,  Nov.  21. — A  scheme  for  the  distribution  of  land  in 
the  western  provinces  of  Canada  to  returned  soldiers  and  selected  im- 
migrants from  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States  has  been  worked 
out  by  the  Canadian  government,  it  was  learned  today.  The  idle  land 
will  be  settled  and  loans  as  high  as  $4,500  will  be  made  to  the  settlers.' 


106  FARMERS'  UNION  AND  FEDERATION 

"LousiviLLE,  Ky.,  Nov.  6. — There  is  at  least  225,000  acres  of  good 
land  now  going  to  waste  in  Kentucky,  or  sufficient  to  furnish  an  eighty- 
acre  homestead  to  each  of  2,800  returning  soldiers  at  the  end  of  the  war, 
according  to  a  report  submitted  to  H.  P.  Griffith,  special  agent  of  the 
Department  of  the  Interior  by  the  Louisville  Board  of  Trade.  The  land 
with  which  the  report  deals  comprises  only  large  tracts  easily  suscepti- 
ble to  reclamation.  There  are  six  tracts  described  in  the  report,  the 
smallest  10,000  acres  and  the  largest  75,000  acres.  The  report  is  made 
in  connection  with  preliminary  plans  of  the  Department  of  the  Interior 
to  place  returning  soldiers  on  the  land  on  such  terms  that  they  can  pay 
for  their  farms  in  small  payments,  extending  over  a  long  period.  Nego- 
tiations for  making  the  Kentucky  tracts  available  for  government  pur- 
chase when  Congress  shall  later  have  provided  funds  have  gone  far 
enough  in  only  one  case  that  the  details  can  be  divulged.  It  is  in  what 
is  known  as  the  Panther  Creek  section  of  Kentucky.  Here  50,000 
acres  in  one  tract  can  be  purchased  at  $5  an  acre,  and  by  putting  in 
drain  tile  it  can  be  made  ready  for  use.  According  to  Mr.  Griffith,  the 
tentative  plans  laid  by  the  Department  of  the  Interior  contemplates 
placing  returned  soldiers  on  the  soil  in  every  State  of  the  Union  and 
also  using  them  when  armies  are  disbanded  in  making  the  land  upon 
which  they  will  go  ready  for  occupancy.  To  make  any  of  these  plans 
effective  Congress  will  have  to  enact  the  necessary  legislation." 

Were  the  federation  of  farmers'  unions  now  organized,  it 
could  perform  a  great  service  to  the  soldiers  by  appointing 
committees  to  warn  them  to  pass  up  the  homestead  propo- 
sition where  nothing  but  privation  and  disappointment 
awaits  them,  and  aid  in  finding  jobs  for  them  in  cities  where 
they  could  get  big  wages  and  aid  in  bringing  down  the  high 
cost  of  all  supplies  needed  by  the  farmers.    . 

Ever  Advancing  Union  Labor  Wages. 

"Washington,  May  26. — General  pay  increases  for  nearly  2,000,000 
railway  employes  were  announced  today  by  Director  General  McAdoo, 
effective  next  Saturday,  and  retroactive  to  last  January,  carrying  out 
substantially  the  recommendations  of  the  Railroad  Wage  Commission. 
The  aggregate  of  the  increases  probably  will  be  more  than  $300,000,000 
a  year,  half  of  which  will  be  distributed  within  a  few  weeks  as  back 
pay  in  lump  sums  ranging  from  about  $100  to  nearly  $200  each.  In 
addition  to  the  ordinary  scale  of  increase,  day  laborers,  employed  mainly 
on  track  work,  are  to  get  at  least  23^  cents  an  hour  more  than  they  re- 


ADVOCATE  AND  GUIDE.  107 

ceived  last  December  31.  A  minimum  of  55  cents  an  hour  is  established 
for  the  shop  trades,  including  machinists,  boilermakers  and  black- 
smiths, and  women  are  to  receive  the  same  pay  as  men  for  the  same 
work,  and  negroes  are  to  get  the  same  as  white  men  for  similar  employ- 
ment. Men  working  on  the  monthly,  daily,  hourly,  piece  work  and  train 
mile  basis  will  benefit  by  the  new  allowances,  and  members  of  the  four 
leading  railroad  brotherhoods  whose  pay  was  raised  through  operation 
of  the  Adamson  act  are  to  receive  from  10  to  40  per  cent  additional,  a 
smaller  increase  than  they  had  asked  of  the  railroads  shortly  before 
the  government  took  control.  The  percentages  of  wage  increases  range 
from  43  per  cent  for  men  who  received  $i6  a  month  in  December,  1915, 
down  to  small  rates  for  those  receiving  just  under  $250,  and  no  more 
pay  is  allowed  men  who  made  $250  a  month  or  more  in  1915.  The 
additions  run  up  to  $34.  With  exception  of  office  and  messenger  boys 
under  18,  who  are  given  smaller  increases,  all  employes  who  received 
less  than  $46  a  month  are  given  a  flat  increase  of  $20,  with  the  provi- 
sion that  laborers  paid  by  the  day  shall  get  a  minimum  of  23^  cents 
an  hour  above  the  rate  of  six  months  ago." 

"Washington,  Sept.  5. — Nearly  1,000,000  railroad  employes,  in- 
cluding clerks,  track  laborers  and  maintenance  of  way  men,  are  to  re- 
ceive wage  increases  of  $25  a  month,  the  equivalent  of  $1  a  day  or  12 
cents  an  hour,  over  the  pay  they  received  last  January  1,  under  a  wage 
order  issued  by  Director  General  McAdoo.  Advances  are  effective  as 
of  September  1.  This  order,  affecting  half  the  railroad  men  in  the 
United  States  and  adding  approximately  $150,000,000  to  the  annual 
pay  roll  in  calculations  of  labor  representatives,  represents  the  second 
largest  aggregate  wage  increase  ever  granted  in  American  industrial 
history.  It  is  supplementary  to  the  general  railroad  wage  order  issued 
nearly  four  months  ago,  providing  for  about  $300,000,000  increases  and 
for  the  classes  of  employes  affected,  it  supplants  provisions  of  that 
order." 

"Washington,  Nov.  23. — Railroad  station  agents  today  were  granted 
by  Director  General  McAdoo  a  general  wage  increase  of  $25  a  month 
above  the  rate  prevailing  last  January  1,  with  a  minimum  of  $95  a 
month.  Eight  hours  is  to  be  considered  a  day's  work  with  pro  rata 
pay  for  two  hours  overtime  and  time  and  a  half  for  service  above  ten 
hours.  The  order  affects  about  2,500  station  agents,  who  are  not 
telegraphers,  and  who  consequently  were  not  covered  by  the  recent 
wage  increase  for  telegraphers." 


108  FARMERS'  UNION  AND  FEDERATION 

"Chicago,  March  30. — 'Men  back  of  the  yards'  or  the  'food  pro- 
viders of  the  nation/  as  they  have  been  called,  won  a  momentous  de- 
cision against  the  big  packers  today  when  Judge  Samuel  Alschuler, 
arbitrator,  handed  down  a  decision  upholding  virtually  all  of  the  de- 
mands of  the  workers.  More  than  100,000  workers  are  affected  by 
the  decision.     Here  are  the  six  big  issues  granted : 

"1.  Eight  hours  shall  constitute  the  basic  day  beginning  May  5, 
1918. 

"2.  Overtime. — Double  time  shall  be  paid  for  work  on  Sundays  and 
legal  holidays.  Week  day  overtime  shall  be  time  and  one-fourth  for 
the  first  two  hours  over ;  time  and  one-half  thereafter.  Time  and  one- 
half  shall  be  paid  for  all  work  over  10  hours  a  day  from  January  14  to 
May  5. 

"3.  Allowance  of  20  minutes  for  lunch  where  operation  is  by  three 
eight-hour  shifts. 

"4,  Employes  who  received  30  cents  an  hour  or  less  on  December  31, 
1917,  shall  be  given  4)^  cents  increase.  Others  to  receive  increases  in 
proportion. 

"5.  Wage  rates  shall  be  the  same  for  men  and  women  doing  the 
same  work. 

"6.  There  shall  be  no  change  made  in  the  guaranteed  time  in  ef- 
fect now,  except  that  Swift  &  Co.  shall  make  its  guarantee  time  40 
hours  to  conform  with  the  other  packers.  In  weeks  where  there  is  a 
holiday,  there  shall  be  333^  hours  guaranteed. 

''Both  capital  and  labor  are  satisfied  with  Judge  Alschuler 's  deci- 
sion. The  packers,  through  their  attorney,  James  G.  Condon,  promised 
to  abide  by  the  decision,  and  John  Fitzpatrick  of  the  Chicago  Federa- 
tion of  Labor,  declared  he  was  'highly  satisfied.'  Judge  Alschuler 
seemed  astounded  at  the  praise  he  received  both  from  the  packers  and 
the  workers.  He  all  but  wept.  The  increase  to  the  workers  will  cost 
the  employers  about  $75,000,000  this  year." 

"Washington,  March  22. — Overriding  requests  of  the  postoffice  de- 
partment, the  House,  in  a  tumultuous  session  this  afternoon  voted  large 
increases  in  pay  to  all  postal  employees  and  ordered  they  should  be 
made  permanent.  Postmaster  General  Burleson's  champions  made  un- 
successful pleas  of  'economy.'  Several  of  them  were  all  but  cried  down 
in  shouts  of  derision.  Bitter  attacks  on  the  Postmaster  General,  de- 
claring he  underpaid  his  help  and  '  persecuted '  them  for  trying  to  better 
working  conditions,  was  applauded.  On  the  largest  test  vote — that  of 
making  the  pay  increases  permanent  instead  of  only  for  the  period  of 
the  war  as  the  Burleson  forces  had  asked — the  department's  wishes 


ADVOCA  TE  AND  GUIDE.  109 

were  denied  by  188  to  42.  New  raises  in  pay,  which  run  from  five  to 
25  per  cent,  will  reach  almost  every  employee  in  the  postal  service  re- 
ceiving less  than  $1,200  a  year.  Additional  amendments  proposing  in- 
creases for  the  few  remaining  positions  will  be  brought  up  tomprrow." 

"Conrad  Seipp,  an  organizer  for  the  United  Association  of  Steam 
Fitters  and  Helpers,  said  the  association  throughout  the  country  in 
May,  1920,  would  demand  $1.50  an  hour,  regardless  of  the  cost  of  liv- 
ing. He  said  steam  fitters  at  the  yards  receive  a  maximum  of  65  cents 
an  hour  now,  and  are  asking  for  873^  cents  for  1919." 

You  see  in  these  accounts  how  organized  labor  appeals  to 
wage  commissions,  courts  and  Congress  for  increased  wages 
and  never  appeals  in  vain.  But  when  the  wheat  growers 
asked  for  an  increase  of  only  ten  per  cent  of  their  meager 
wages  to  partly  cover  their  greatly  increased  expenses,  the 
Food  Administration  refused  it.  Congress  refused  it,  the 
President  refused  it,  and  the  courts  would  have  refused  it 
had  they  been  appealed  to.  Why  is  this?  Why  are  they 
everywhere  denied  fair  wages?  Why  have  they  no  influence 
for  justice,  though  admittedly  producing  the  most  vital  food 
product?  There  is  only  one  answer :  They  are  not  un- 
ionized, and  consequently  have  no  authorized  representa- 
tives to  look  after  their  interests  and  plead  their  case,  and 
therefore  have  no  political  power.  There  is  only  one  rem- 
edy— one  course  to  secure  justice.  That  is  to  unionize  and 
enforce  it  through  the  power  of  their  numbers.  They  can 
then  hold  the  balance  of  political  power,  and  by  voting  it. 
as  a  unit  control  the  election  of  judges.  State  Legislatures 
and  Congress,  who  will  then  be  under  obligations  to  do  the 
farmers  justice  as  they  are  now  to  favor  organized  capital 
and  labor  classes,  who  put  them  in  office,  at  the  expense  of 
the  farmers.  , 

Union  Labor  to  Enforce  War  Wages. 

Now  that  the  war  is  over,  all  farm  products  will  in  a  few 
months  begin  to  decline  in  prices  until  within  a  year  or  two 
they  will  be  as  cheap  or  cheaper  than  before  the  war,  while 
organized  labor  will  continue  to  enforce  wartime  wages,  as 
the  following  news  items  indicate : 


110  FARMERS'  UNION  AND  FEDERATION 

"New  York. — A  meeting  which  may  be  destined  to  fuse  into  one 
body  the  workingmen's  organizations  of  the  United  States  and  Central 
and  South  America  is  to  be  held  on  the  Rio  Grande  on  November  13. 
It  is  the  Pan-American  Federation  of  Labor  conference,  to  be  held  in 
Laredo,  Tex.  Delegates  from  Mexico  and  a  large  number  of  the  South 
American  countries  will  meet  to  discuss  problems  of  mutual  interest 
to  workers  in  the  two  Americas,  especially  those  growing  out  of  the 
war  and  to  come  up  in  the  reconstruction  period.  A  number  of  dele- 
gates accredited  by  the  labor  movements  of  South  America  have  ar- 
rived in  New  York,  in  preparation  for  the  conference.  Represented 
among  them  are  delegates  from  Chile,  Costa  Rica,  Cuba  and  Ar- 
gentina. The  Mexican  Federation  of  Labor  will  be  represented  by  a 
delegation  of  20  unionists.  An  international  eight-hour  work  day  and 
an  international  child  labor  law  are  two  of  the  results  organized  labor 
wishes  to  see  come  out  of  the  war,  the  latter  to  be  effected  by  denial  of 
shipping  facilities  to  goods  manufactured  by  children  under  16  years. 
.  .  .  One  result  looked  for  by  labor  men  is  the  formation  of  a  Pan- 
American  federation  of  labor  that  will  draw  into  close  relationship  or- 
ganized labor  in  the  American  republics,  in  preparation  for  meeting 
after-the-war  problems.  .  .  .  Samuel  Gompers  spoke  for  labor  in 
saying  at  Laredo  that  it  will  fight  to  hold  what  it  has  obtained  in  war- 
time." 

''Bloomington,  III.,  Dec.  5. — Ranking  in  importance  as  a  conven- 
tion issue  with  the  formation  of  an  independent  labor  party,  is  the 
action  to  be  taken  by  the  Illinois  State  Federation  of  Labor  today  on 
the  question  of  reconstruction  and  the  wage  problems  arising  there- 
from. In  a  supplement  to  his  annual  report.  President  John  H.  Walker 
undertakes  a  presentation  of  the  situation  that  faces  organized  labor 
.not  only  in  Illinois  but  the  country  at  large.  This  report  in  part  is  as 
follows : 

"  'The  labor  movement  must  deal  with  this  problem  in  such  a  way 
as  to  avoid  terrible  injury  being  perpetrated  upon  our  people,  and,  too, 
that  the  cessation  of  war  and  the  reintroduction  of  these  men  and 
women  into  the  productive  work  of  our  nation  may  instead  be  a  bless- 
ing and  help  to  every  human  being  in  our  land.  To  do  this,  the  vitally 
important  necessity,  the  thing  of  more  value  than  all  other  things 
combined,  is  to  organize  all  the  workers  into  the  bona  fide  American 
labor  movement  and  to  educate  them  so  they  can  understand  these 
problems,  and  act  upon  them  intelligently  and  unitedly.  And  as  our 
oversupply  of  labor  will  be  our  greatest  problem,  surely  we  can  at 
this  time  make  the  eight-hour  day  the  maximum  which  any  man  or 
woman  should  work  in  our  country,  and  enact  laws  which  will  keep 


ADVOCATE  AND  GUIDE.  Ill 

the  children  in. school  until  the  age  when  they  will  have  an  education 
and  be  fully  developed  mentally  and  physically.  Labor  should  declare 
itself  in  the  most  positive  and  emphatic  terms  and  fight  to  the  last 
ditch  against  any  reduction  of  wages,  lengthening  of  hours  or  deteriora- 
tion in  the  conditions  for  health  and  safety  of  the  workers.'  " 

Thousands  of  wheat  growers  will  say,  ''It  is  none  of  our 
business  what  union  labor  does,  or  how  much  wages  it  gets." 
But  they  should  know  that  these  wages  are  added  to  the 
price  of  everything  they  buy  and  every  public  service  they 
use  and  thereby  pay  proportionately  all  these  wages  them- 
selves. 

But  if  they  unionize  and  adopt  the  minimum  price  system 
they  can  then  add  this  additional  cost  to  the  price  of  wheat 
and  collect  it  back  again.  That  is  the  only  way  to  meet 
the  high  cost  of  living  without  being  hurt  by  it.  All  other 
classes  do  that  way  and  thus  side-step  the  high  cost  of  liv- 
ing by  adding  it  to  their  labor  or  service. 

Organizing  International  Labor  Unions. 

Organized  laborers  do  not  want  this  country  flooded  with 
laborers  from  other  countries  seeking  the  higher  wages  here 
through  fear  of  having  their  wages  forced  down.  Therefore, 
they  are  interested  in  unionizing  competing  laborers  in  all 
countries  to  enforce  higher  wages  there  and  keep  them  from 
coming  to  America. 

"Washington,  Nov.  18. — Chairman  Hurley,  of  the  Shipping  Board, 
who  sailed  for  Europe  last  Saturday  to  prepare  for  the  returning  of 
American  troops  to  this  country,  and  for  moving  needed  food  suppUes 
to  the  war-famished  nations  overseas,  also  plans  to  seek  an  international 
agreement  between  the  governments,  shipping  interests  and  labor  or- 
ganizations of  the  principal  maritime  powers  for  standardization  of 
seamen's  wages  and  working  conditions.  It  was  said  today  that  Mr. 
Hurley  expects  to  propose  that  the  American  laws  and  the  agreements 
between  the  government  and  the  seamen's  unions  on  these  subjects  be 
accepted  as  the  standards,  and  it  is  understood  that  the  American 
Federation  of  Labor  and  the  British  Seamen's  Union  are  prepared  to 
support  the  proposal.     Such  an  agreement  as  that  contemplated  by 


112  FARMERS'  UNION  AND  FEDERATION 

Mr.  Hurley,  it  was  said,  would  eliminate  the  chief  difficulty  that  has 
confronted  American  shipping  interests  in  past  years  in  their  attempts 
to  operate  ships  in  competition  with  other  nations.  The  standards  for 
American  seamen  are  said  to  be  the  highest  in  the  world,  and  now  that 
this  country  is  putting  a  great  fleet  of  ships  on  the  seas,  officials  believe 
that  unless  some  international  agreement  is  reached,  a  great  proportion 
of  trained  seamen  will  be  attracted  to  the  American  merchant  marine." 

"San  Antonio,  Tex.,  Nov.  21. — An  international  labor  conference, 
to  be  participated  in  by  representatives  from  all  allied  countries  and  to 
meet  at  the  place  and  on  the  dates  of  the  great  peace  conference,  is  to 
be  urged  by  the  American  Federation  of  Labor,  Samuel  Gompers, 
President  of  the  Federation,  announced  today  at  the  session  of  the  ex- 
ecutive committee  of  the  American  Federation  of  Labor." 

"London,  Jan.  18. — An  International  Labor  Congress,  to  work  with 
the  League  of  Nations  toward  feasible  means  for  settling  labor  disputes, 
abolition  of  sweatshops  and  betterment  of  wor}i:ing  classes  the  world 
over  is  the  plan  of  Samuel  Gompers,  American  Federation  of  Labor 
President,  backed  by  British,  French  and  Italian  labor  leaders.  An  at- 
tempt will  be  made  to  put  this  plan  through  at  the  peace  conference. 
Mr.  Gompers  arrived  yesterday  from  the  United  States  en  route  to 
Paris." 

Farmers  are  not  recognized  as  laborers  by  union  labor,  and 
labor  representatives  may  advocate  international  policies 
prejudicial  to  farmers'  interests. 

They  should  unionize  to  look  after  and  protect  their  own 
interests,  both  national  and  international. 

Unionized  Capital  Guards  its  Interests. 

"Atlantic  City,  N.  J.,  Dec.  6. — Appointment  of  a  European 
commission  representative  of  American  business  to  go  to  France  and 
be  available  for  any  aid  it  might  be  able  to  give  to  the  peace  delegates 
from  the  United  States  in  considering  economic  problems  that  might 
enter  into  the  peace  negotiations,  was  decided  upon  today  at  the  final 
session  of  the  reconstruction  congress  of  the  Industrial  War  Service 
Committees.  Other  resolutions  adopted  urged  the  speedy  return  under 
federal  charter  to  their  owners  of  all  railroads  now  operated  by  the  gov- 
ernment, opposed  government  ownership  and  operation  of  telegraphs, 
telephones  and  cables,  appealed  for  modifications  of  the  Sherman  anti- 


ADVOCATE  AND  GUIDE.  113 

trust  laws,  indorsed  the  industrial  creed  respecting  labor  enunciated  by 
John  D.  Rockefeller,  Jr.,  yesterday,  and  the  creation  of  a  central  board 
of  war  service  committees." 

While  capital  and  labor  are  protecting  their  interests  both 
at  home  and  abroad,  none  are  protecting  the  interest  of  the 
wheat  growers,  not  even  themselves,  as  the  following  num- 
ber shows : 

Necessity  for  International  Wheat  Growers'  Union. 

The  weekly  review  of  the  grain  trade,  December  1,  1918, 

says : 

''The  most  important  feature  of  the  grain  market  last  week  did  not 
come  out  until  yesterday.  Reference  is  here  made  to  the  press  reports 
stating  that  Great  Britain  will  hereafter  buy  her  bread  and  feed  re- 
quirements elsewhere  than  in  America.  The  reason  given  for  this  action 
is  the  fact  that  she  can  buy  so  inuch  cheaper  in  Argentine  and  Australia 
than  she  can  in  this  country. 

"The  dispatches  say  that  the  food  program  of  America  and  the  Allies 
has  been  broken,  and  that  it  is  not  known  what  arrangement,  if  any, 
can  be  made  by  Herbert  Hoover  in  the  conference  of  food  administrat- 
ors in  Europe.     The  situation  is  this  : 

"America  had  encouraged  a  great  wheat  crop  by  a  guaranteed  price 
and  had  agreed  to  see  the  Allies  through  on  wheat.  With  the  armistice 
England  rushed  her  ships  to  Argentine,  where  she  gets  wheat  at  $1.35, 
and  to  Australia,  where  she  is  paying  $1.18.  The  American  guaranteed 
price  at  New  York  for  export  is  $2,393^.  Great  Britain's  ships  are 
also  going  to  Argentine  for  meat,  where  she  pays  13  cents,  and  to  Aus- 
tralia, where  she  pays  11  cents,  while  in  America,  whose  food  program 
for  the  past  year  has  centered  about  meat  production  for  the  Allies,  she 
must  pay  26  cents. 

"In  this  way  the  corn  market  is  affected.  Besides,  it  is  well  known 
that  the  United  States  government  has  bought  1,500,000  bushels  of 
corn  in  Argentine  to  be  laid  down  at  New  York  at  a  price  that  is  20  cents 
a  bushel  cheaper  than  our  corn  would  cost  there.  In  addition  to  that,  it 
is  certain  that  wheat  cannot  go  down  materially  in  the  world's  market 
without  a  corresponding  decline  in  prices  of  other  grains.  All  grains 
bear  a  certain  relative  value  to  each  other  which,  unless  prices  are 
arbitrarily  fixed,  are  reflected  in  market  quotations. 


114  FARMERS'  UNION  AND  FEDERATION 

''The  lesson  of  the  war  in  pool  buying  is  being  continued  by  England 
and  the  Allies.  They  buy  at  various  prices,  then  average  them  and  sell 
to  the  people  at  prices  lower  than  would  prevail  were  there  no  pool 
buying. 

"This  plan  is  a  natural  one  and  protects  the  English  or  French 
consumer,  but  it  threatens  the  American  food  market.  America  has 
stimulated  production  to  care  for  her  Allies. 

''Now  if  they  go  into  other  and  cheaper  markets  of  the  world  first 
and  refuse  to  enter  the  American  market  until  the  rest  of  the  world  has 
been  swept  clean  or  until  they  can  break  American  prices  to  suit  their 
pocketbooks,  American  producers,  if  unprotected  in  their  market,  face 
a  serious  situation. 

"Food  buying  by  the  Allies  with  no  food  control  here  would  give 
them  the  power  to  dictate  to  the  American  market.  They  might  buy 
at  prices  lower  than  the  cost  of  production  or  so  manipulate  prices  as 
to  drain  our  supplies. 

"In  the  long  run,  however,  the  nation  with  the  food  supply  can 
control  the  situation,  but  only  if  the  nation  is  organized  to  do  so.  The 
government,  it  is  said,  must  extend  food  control  during  the  reconstruc- 
tion period  in  order  to  prevent  prices  going  too  high  for  the  consumer 
and  too  low  for  the  producer,  and  at  the  same  time  to  regulate  the  flow 
of  food  out  of  the  country,  so  that  there  shall  be  no  serious  shortage 
at  any  time." 

Had  the  wheat  growers  been  unionized  they  could  have 
rushed  organizers  to  Australia,  Argentine  and  other  wheat 
exporting  countries  to  unionize  the  wheat  raisers,  so  they 
could  command  union  prices  for  their  wheat  and  not  under- 
sell us  in  the  world's  market.  It  would  be  no  more  to  our 
interest  to  have  the  wheat  price  lowered  by  scab  wheat 
raisers  than  for  union  labor  to  have  wages  lowered  by  scab 
labor. 

Monopoly   Selling   Should  Meet   Monopoly   Buying. 

A  plan  is  brewing  to  place  the  buying  of  all  the  export 
wheat  in  the  world  in  the  hands  of  Mr.  Hoover,  for  the  im- 
porting nations  to  stop  competition  among  them  for  the 
wheat,  and  thus  reduce  the  price  of  wheat  to  the  lowest 
possible  level  through  world-wide  monopoly  buying,  as  the 
following  news  item  indicates : 


ADVOCATE  AND  GUIDE.  115 

"Washington,  Dec.  2. — In  support  of  the  extension  of  allied  co- 
operation into  a  league  of  nations  it  has  been  pointed  out  often  enough 
that  the  project  is  evolutionary  rather  than  the  revolutionary  plan  that 
it  is  sometimes  described  by  its  opponents.  Yesterday  this  was  il- 
lustrated by  the  report  from  Paris  that  Herbert  Hoover  has  been  offered, 
and  is  considering  the  acceptance  of  the  office  of  world  food  adminis- 
trator, responsible  not  to  his  own  government  but  to  the  allied  nations. 
The  scope  of  his  authority,  if  this  project  is  carried  through,  is  reported 
as  'the  entire  food  and  relief  administration  for  the  European  Allies  and 
the  United  States.'.  The  description  of  the  proposed  office  further  goes 
on: 

"The  general  idea  of  the  plan  is  to  centralize  the  organization  under 
one  head  so  that  both  the  food  and  the  tonnage  made  available  by  the 
various  Allies  would  be  used  under  one  plan  to  the  best  advantage.  .  .  . 
The  director  general  would  be  the  supreme  executive  head  and  would 
work  in  conjunction  with  the  existing  inter-allied  maritime,  food  and 
financial  commissions  which  have  headquarters  in  London." 

By  this  time  wheat  growers  kpow  what  Mr.  Hoover  thinks 
of  them,  and  can  easily  guess  what  he  will  do  to  them  when 
he  becomes  the  only  surplus  wheat  buyer  in  all  the  world. 
To  save  themselves  from  becoming  further  pauperized  they 
should  unionize  at  once  in  the  United  States  and  put  the 
selling  of  their  wheat  into  the  hands  of  one  sales  committee 
to  deal  with  this  one  buyer.  In  no  other  way  can  he  be 
made  to  pay  the  cost  of  producing  it.  Of  course,  he  would 
then  go  to  the  unorganized  wheat  growers  of  other  nations 
for  wheat  until  he  starved  our  union  into  submission.  To 
head  him  off  in  that  course,  our  union  would  send  delegates 
to  unionize  the  wheat  growers  of  all  wheat  exporting  coun- 
tries, and  then  consolidate  all  into  an  international  wheat 
growers'  union.  They  would  then  pool  the  entire  world 
crop  and  place  it  in  the  hands  of  their  international  union  to 
sell.  This  sales  agency  would  name  the  price  of  wheat,  and 
Mr.  Hoover  or  any  other  buyer  would  pay  it.  It  would  be 
worth  billions  of  dollars  annually  to  the  world's  wheat  pro- 
ducers to  be  able  to  meet  monopoly  buyers  with  monopoly 
sellers. 

Therefore,  unionize  and  monopolize  as  labor  and  capital 
does. 


116  FARMERS'  UNION  AND  FEDERATION 

Farmers  Not  Proportionally  Represented  in  Congress. 

In  the  United  States  Census  for  1910  the  total  population 
is  given  at  91,972,266—42,623,383  classed  as  urban,  and 
49,348,883  as  rural.  The  latter  includes  8,118,825  living  in 
villages  of  less  than  2,500,  leaving  41,230,058  as  strictly  the 
population  engaged  in  some  class  of  farming,  or  food  pro- 
duction. Most  cities  from  2,500  to  25,000  draw  most  of 
their  prosperity  from  the  income  to  surrounding  farmers, 
thus  having  financial  and  political  interests  identical  with 
them,  and  adding  16,079,567  more  to  their  number.  This 
would  give  them  over  seventy  per  cent  of  the  population 
with  identical  community  interests,  and  would  entitle  them 
to  67  of  the  96  Senators,  and  304  of  the  435  Representatives 
in  the  Sixty-third  Congress.  But  instead  of  that,  they  had 
only  six  in  the  Senate — two  farmers,  two  planters,  one 
stockraiser  and  one  cotton  planter ;  and  only  twent3^-two  in 
the  House  of  Representatives — eighteen  farmers  and  one 
stockraiser,  planter,  cattleman,  horticulturist  and  agricul- 
turist. No  wonder  farmers  get  no  aid  from  Congress  to  in- 
crease their  wages  as  other  classes  do. 

To  remedy  this  inequality,  the  producers  of  each  farm 
product  should  unionize  and  then  federate,  to  enable  them 
to  nominate  and  elect  members  of  Congress  from  their  own 
unions. 

Here  follows  part  of  an  address  of  an  Iowa  Congressman 
to  farmers,  delivered  before  the  convention  of  National 
Board  of  Farm  Organizations,  held  at  Washington,  D.  C, 
Tuesday,  February  11,  1919 : 

Address  of  Hon.  Gilbert  N.  Haugen,  M.  C,  Member  of  Committee 
ON  Agriculture,  House  of  Representatives. 
"When  asked  by  your  secretary  what  subject  I  mieht  prefer  to  dis- 
cuss, I  said :  '  Though  no  comment  on  the  organization  seems  neces- 
sary, having  come  in  contact  with  a  number  of  the  officers  and  members 
of  the  association  and  knowing  of  their  high  type  of  character  and 
rectitude  of  purpose  and  ability  to  do  things,  I  was  naturally  interested 
in  your  organization  and  its  success,  and,  if  agreeable,  I  would  prefer 
to  offer  a  word  of  encouragement.' 


ADVOCATE  AND  GUIDE.  117 

"I  have  never  understood  why  one-half  of  the  American  people 
should  find  it  necessary  to  organize  and  co-operate  for  their  benefit  and 
not  the  other  half.  It  has  occurred  to  me  that  if  it  was  proper  and 
necessary  for  labor  and  industrial  interests  to  organize,  it  was  also 
proper  and  necessary  for  the  other  half — the  agricultural  people — to 
organize  and  co-operate  as  well.  Certainly,  when  we  consider  all  that 
is  involved  it  seems  that  every  fair-minded  man  will  concede  the  jus- 
tice, right,  and  necessity  for  co-operation. 

"When  we  turn  to  the  census  reports  we  find  that  more  than  half 
of  the  American  people  live  in  rural  districts.  We  find  that  more  than 
6,000,000  farmers  and  6,000,000  farm  laborers,  tilhng  more  than  6,000,- 
000  farms,  produced  last  year  5,600,000,000  bushels  of  cereals,  which  is 
about  one-third  of  the  production  of  cereals  in  the  world ;  917,000,000 
bushels  of  wheat,  about  one-third  of  the  wheat  produced  in  all  the 
world. 

"The  gentleman  preceding  me  has  spoken  about  the  dairy  interests. 
We  have  43,000,000  head  of  cattle,  23,300,000  milch  cows,  giving  more 
than  8,500,000,000  gallons  of  milk.  We  have  71,000,000  swine ;  49,000,- 
000  sheep;  19,500,000,000  pounds  of  meat,  pork  and  mutton.  The 
live  stock  on  the  farms  on  the  1st  of  January  and  the  1918  crop  was 
valued  at  $24,700,000,000,  which  is  three  times  the  stock  of  money  in 
the  United  States,  after  our  printing  presses  have  been  running  to  full 
capacity  the  last  year  qjid  turning  out  all  sorts  of  money. 

"My  friends,  here  we  are  with  organization  on  one  hand,  the  labor 
and  other  activities  co-operating.  On  the  other  hand  we  have  this 
vast  number  of  people  without  co-operation. 

"It  would  seem  that  it  is  proper  and  fair  and  just  that  they  co- 
operate ;  that  is,  to  perfect  an  organization  such  as  suggested  by  your 
chairman  here  a  moment  ago,  men  Avith  heart  and  soul  in  the  work,  and 
who  have  a  sincere  interest  in  the  agricultural  people — an  organization 
equipped  here  with  proper  office  building,  with  money  to  support  it, 
and  with  money  to  employ  the  proper  talent  to  appear  before  legisla- 
tive bodies  to  impress  their  viewpoints ;  men  who  stand  for  a  square 
deal  all  along  the  line,  for  just  laws,  and  an  honest  administration  of 
just  laws.  Legislation  not  to  meet  the  views  of  those  who  have  no  re- 
spect for  law,  order,  or  property  rights,  but  legislation  dealing  with  all 
questions  in  a  broad  and  comprehensive  manner,  with  a  spirit  of  fair- 
ness and  justice  to  all  concerned;  legislation  not  to  deprive  an  indi- 
vidual, corporation,  or  interest  of  a  single  dollar  honestly  acquired,  but 
legislation  to  promote  and  perpetuate  the  prosperity  and  happiness  of 
the  people  in  all  communities. 


118  FARMERS'  UNION  AND  FEDERATION 

"Now  then,  as  to  the  necessity  of  organization.  Have  we  any 
grievances?  Is  there  any  just  cause  for  complaint?  My  friends,  if 
anybody  is  in  doubt,  if  he  will  turn  to  the  Federal  Trade  Commission's 
reports,  I  believe  he  will  find  food  for  thought.  If  he  will  look  over 
the  reports,  he  will  find,  for  instance,  that  the  Steel  Trust  was  per- 
mitted to  increase  its  profits  from  $47,000,000  in  1914  to  $478,000,000 
in  1918,  or  about  1,000  per  cent,  much  of  it  at  the  expense  of  the  gov- 
ernment. They  were  given  the  benefit  of  the  natural  law  of  supply 
and  demand  largely  stiumlated  by  the  government. 

"The  millers  increased  their  operating  profits  175  per  cent,  and  on 
the  capital  invested  100  per  cent ;  he  would  find  that  four  packers  in- 
creased their  profits  $121,000,000  above  their  prewar  profits.  He  will 
also  find  in  those  reports  that  the  meat  producers — the  live-stock  men — 
are  at  the  mercy  of,  say,  five  packers,  killing  70  per  cent  of  the  live 
stock,  by  reason  of  their  control  of  the  market  facilities  and  pooling 
and  spHtting  shipments  and  dividing  purchases,  the  little  black  book 
and  various  other  combinations  and  conspiracies. 

"As  you  know  the  railroads  were  on  the  verge  of  bankruptcy.  They 
were  about  to  go  into  the  hands  of  receivers.  Their  stock  had  been 
watered  and  mortgaged  to  the  limit.  They  were  unable  to  renew  their 
obligations  or  to  borrow  money.  They  were  taken  over.  Nobody 
objected  to  that.  They  were  guaranteed  $175,000,000  to  $200,000,000 
compensation  above  the  amount  estimated  by  the  Interstate  Commerce 
Commission.  They  were  guaranteed  an  annual  compensation  running 
as  high  as  647.22  per  cent.  We  are  paying  compensation  to  one  road — 
the  Bessemer  &  Lake  Erie  Railroad — several  times  over  every  year. 

"So,  my  friends,  we  might  go  along,  but  I  believe  this  is  sufficient. 
Now,  on  the  other  hand,  the  farmers.  As  you  know.  Hoover  told  us 
that  wheat  would  go  to  $7  a  bushel  and  that  that  should  not  be  done. 
The  price  then  was  $3.45  per  bushel.  Neutral  nations  offered  $1 
premium,  or  $4.45  per  bushel.  He  stated  his  task  would  be  to  furnish 
flour  at  $6.60  per  barrel.  That  would  have  netted  the  farmer  about 
$1  per  bushel.  Later  he  said  he  might  concede  $1.50  per  bushel.  Con- 
gress fixed  the  price  at  $2,  and  provided  for  a  commission  which  fixed 
it  at  $2.20  and  later  at  $2.26.  Italy  fixed  the  price  at  $3.60 ;  France, 
$3.96;  Canada,  $2,243^;  Switzerland,  $3.36;  Norway,  $4.38.  The 
price  of  wheat  was  fixed  not  at  the  price  it  would  have  been  under  the 
natural  law  of  supply  and  demand,  but  was  arbitrarily  fixed  by  the 
government.  As  a  result  the  wheat  grower  suffered  a  loss  of  approxi- 
mately a  billion  dollars.  The  farmers  did  not  object.  Their  repre- 
sentative told  the  committee  to  carry  out  the  plan;  that  what  they 
were  interested  in  was  winning  the  war.     They  accepted  the  price. 


ADVOCATE  AND  GUIDE.  119 

"Now,  the  representatives  of  the  farmer,  about  200  of  them,  all 
from  the  various  exchanges,  the  millers  and  bakers,  appeared  before 
the  Committee  on  Agriculture  and  stated  that  they  proposed  that  the 
wheat  grower  shall  have  the  price  fixed.  Coupled  with  that  they  asked 
that  the  poor  millers  who  increase  their  operating  profits  175  or  100 
per  cent  on  their  capital  stock ;  they  say  that  they  should  be  protected 
against  loss;  and  we  have  prepared  a  bill  which  is  being  introduced 
and  will  come  up  in  a  few  days,  and  it  provides  for  a  guarantee  to  the 
miller  against  loss.  It  goes  further  than  that — it  guarantees  the  baker 
against  loss. 

"I  have  served  on  the  Committee  on  Agriculture  a  number  of  years. 
I  have  observed  that  the  representatives  claiming  to  represent  the 
farmers  are  nine  times  out  of  ten  members  of  or  representatives  of  other 
organizations  such  as  the  boards  of  trade  or  exchanges,  the  millers  and 
packers.  They  profess  great  friendship  for  the  farmer,  but,  after  all, 
they  are  human  and  selfish  and  not  infallible.  Although  appearing  as 
spokesmen  for  the  farmer,  we  find  them  pleading  with  tears  in  their 
eyes  for  legislation  to  further  their  own  interests,  even  at  the  expense 
of  the  farmer. 

''It  has  often  occurred  to  me  that  the  best  interests  of  the  farmer 
might  be  better  subserved  if  he  appointed  his  own  spokesman,  rather 
than  to  depend  upon  these  self-appointed  representatives.  I  call  at- 
tention to  the  cotton  futures  act,  the  standardization  act,  the  meat  in- 
spection act,  the  legislation  giving  authority  to  fix  the  price  of  wheat, 
the  oleomargarine  act,  and  a  number  of  others  might  be  cited.  It  has 
also  occurred  to  me  that  with  farmers'  organizations  and  co-operation, 
such  as  the  National  Dairy  Union,  of  which  your  chairman,  Mr.  Creasy, 
is  secretary — and  I  speak  of  it  because  I  have  come  in  more  frequent 
contact  with  its  representative  than  any  other — if,  with  the  proper, 
active,  efficient  organization,  equipped  with  headquarters  in  Washing- 
ton, such  as  is  suggested  by  your  organization,  the  Temple  of  Agricul- 
ture, and  provided  with  the  necessary  funds  to  maintain  it  and  the  em- 
ployment of  the  necessary  number  of  industrious  and  capable  repre- 
sentatives, with  a  view  of  effectively  impressing  its  viewpoints  upon 
our  lawmakers  and  to  look  after  its  interests.  If  represented  by  them 
instead  of  being  represented  by  boards  of  trade,  packers,  millers,  and 
various  other  boards  appearing  before  the  committee  suggesting  and 
framing  legislation,  might  it  not  result  in  legislation  different  and  more 
conducive  to  the  best  interests,  not  only  of  the  farmer  but  of  the  con- 
sumer and  of  the  people  as  a  whole?  It  has  often  occurred  to  me  that 
with  a  complete  system  of  checking  up  the  legislation,  with  proper  rep- 
resentation in  shaping  legislation,  it  would  bring  beneficial  results. 


120  FARMERS'  UNION  AND  FEDERATION 

am  not  putting  it  too  strong  when  I  say  that  one  man  with  the  backing 
of  7,000,000  farmers  employed  to  aid  in  shaping  legislation  and  one  man 
in  the  gallery  checking  up  and  making  records  would  bring  better 
results,  so  far  as  the  farmer  is  concerned,  than  any  2,000  men  employed 
in  the  Department  of  Agriculture." 

How  Farmers  Can  Control  Congress  and  Legislatures. 

Having  seen  how  unionized  capital  and  labor  have  been 
favored  by  Congress  at  the  expense  of  the  unionized 
farmers,  the  great  importance  of  gaining  control  of  Congress 
is  vividly  brought  out.  That  can  easily  be  done  through  the 
ballot  as  already  in  use,  by  the  farmers  unionizing  and  voting 
unitedly  at  the  primaries  for  candidates  of  their  own  choos- 
ing and  giving  them  their  entire  vote  at  the  general  elections. 

When  all  products  are  unionized  and  federated  into  one 
community  of  class-conscious  interests,  each  State  Federation 
will  have  a  pohtical  advisory  board  to  advise  their  members 
how  to  proceed  in  political  matters  so  they  will  not  vote 
against  their  own  interests.  This  board  will  make  a  survey 
of  each  Congressional  district  in  the  State  to  ascertain  how 
many  members  each  separate  union  has  in  each.  The  union 
having  the  most  members  will  be  entitled  to  the  Congress- 
man, and  members  of  all  the  other  unions  will  be  instructed 
to  vote  for  him.  The  same  process  will  be  adopted  for  each 
State  in  selecting  the  Senators.  Thus  all  unionized  farm 
products  will  be  proportionately  represented  in  Congress.  It 
will  be  immaterial  whether  they  be  Democrats  or  Republi- 
cans, as  their  primary  duty  will  be  to  look  after  the  interests 
of  their  constituents.  The  same  process  will  be  adopted  in 
electing  State  Legislatures.  Thus  the  legislative  power  of 
unionized  capital  and  labor  both  will  pass  into  the  hands  of 
unionized  farmers. 

It  is  worth  billions  of  dollars  annually  to  the  farmers  to 
take  over  the  law-making  business  of  the  States  and  Nation 
to  themselves,  which  they  can  easily  do  by  unionizing,  and 
which  they  are  entitled  to  by  their  numbers.     The  agricul- 


ADVOCATE  AND  GUIDE.  121 

tural  class  is  the  great  helpless  mammoth  on  whose  vitals  a 
thousand  parasitical  trusts,  syndicates,  unions  and  profiteerers 
feed  with  impunity,  grow  wealthy,  arrogant,  and  then  kii;k 
him  for  their  own  amusement  and  entertainment. 

Arouse,  you  agricultural  class !  Mobilize  your  giant  power 
by  unionizing.  Take  for  yourselves  and  families  skilled 
labor  wages  and  overhead  expenses  for  your  services  in  pro- 
viding food  for  the  world  through  the  minimum  price  system. 
Follow  the  advice  of  your  own  elected  members  of  the  po- 
litical advisory  board  of  the  national  farmers'  federation 
and  vote  as  a  unit  for  your  union  candidates  for  all  offices, 
and  through  your  majority  voting  power  turn  the  rascals 
who  have  betrayed  you  into  the  power  of  your  enemies  out 
of  all  legislative,  judicial  and  executive  State  and  National 
offices. 

They  are  yours  for  simply  unionizing  and  following  the 
advice  of  your  own  elected  leaders  of  your  unions. 

High  Cost  of  Living  Caused  by  Profiteering. 

While  Congress  and  the  President  would  not  stand  for  the 
wheat  growers  making  wages  and  overhead  expenses,  they 
did  stand  for  the  following  profiteering,  which  show  the  ne^d 
of  farmers  unionizing  to  enforce  justice : 

"Washington,  July  5. — Excess  profits  as  high  as  2,183  per  cent  were 
made  by  some  businesses  in  1917,  a  Treasury  Department  report  sub- 
mitted to  the  Senate  today  showed.  The  report  is  a  partial  answer  to 
the  Borah  resolution  asking  data  on  profiteering.  The  2,183  per  cent 
example  was  that  of  a  food  dealer. 

"The  report  listed  the  percentage  of  excess  in  1917  profits  over  those 
of  1916,  together  with  changes  in  capital  and  other  statistics  relating 
to  the  business,  but  gave  no  names. 

"Next  to  the  food  dealer  who  made  2,183  per  cent,  came  a  liquor 
man  with  a  capital  stock  of  $5,000,  who  had  an  excess  profit  of  1,220 
per  cent.     Another  Hquor  man  with  $100,000  capital  made  152  per  cent. 

"A  cold  storage  concern,  capitalized  at  $10,000,  exceeded  its  profits 
by  472  per  cent  over  1916.  Another,  capitalized  at  $429,000,  made  31 
per  cent. 


122  FARMERS'  UNION  AND  FEDERATION 

• 

"In  the  dairying  business  exces's  profits  ranged  from  nothing  to  182 
per  cent ;  banking  nothing  to  82  per  cent ;  contracting,  nothing  to 
596  per  cent;  clothing  manufacturers,  up  to  191  per  cent;  chemicals 
as  high  as  377  per  cent. 

''A  flour  miller  with  $90,000  capital  showed  an  excess  profit  of  236 
per  cent.  In  1916  he  made  $48,000  profits  and  in  1917  he  made  $260,- 
000.  Another,  capitalized  at  $25,000,  made  $27,000  in  1916,  and  in 
1917  raised  it  to  $81,000,  an  excess  of  437.67  per  cent  on  his  capital. 

''A  $500,000  meat  packer  made  14.30  per  cent,  while  a  $72,000  con- 
cern made  204  per  cent. 

"On  $10,000  capital,  a  soft  coal  miner  made  504  per  cent  excess.  A 
retail  coal  concern  showed  80  per  cent  on  a  $1,250,000  capital,  making 
$18.5,000  in  1916,  and  $285,000  in  1917. 

"Department  stores  ranged  from  nothing  to  331.69  for  one  with 
small  capital.  Several  with  capital  as  high  as  $300,000  showed  no 
excess  profits.     Paper  manufacturers  ran  from  none  to  176  per  cent. 

"On  $50,000  capital,  a  concern  in  the  retail  clothing  trade,  made 
1,181  per  cent,  jumping  profits  from  $68,000  in  1916  to  $127,000  in  1917. 

"Electrical  machine  makers  ran  from  no  excess  to  91  per  cent ;  ma- 
chine tool  manufacturers  from  none  to  788  per  cent;  dry  goods  con- 
cerns up  to  117  per  cent. 

"These  figures  are  to  be  supplemented  by  further  data  as  soon  as 
prepared.  A  list  of  names  of  all  firms  making  more  than  15  per  cent  in 
1917  is  to  be  submitted.  No  attempt  will  be  made  to  take  typical  ex- 
amples from  these  returns. 

"The  report  is  the  second  section  of  a  roundup  of  profiteering  evi- 
dence for  the  use  of  Congress  in  framing  the  war  tax  bill." 

Remember  these  profits  were  made  above  their  1916 
profits,  and  '^from  nothing"  means  not  any  profits  above 
those  of  1916. 

What  to  do  With  the  Returning  Soldiers. 

Instead  of  the  government  planning  to  place  returning 
soldiers  on  land  and  financing  them  free  to  produce  products 
in  competition  with  those  who  have  to  do  their  own  financ- 
ing, and  thus  aid  in  bankrupting  more  of  them  by  forcing 
prices  below  cost  of  production,  the  government  should  seek 
out  all  profiteers  such  as  those  mentioned  in  the  foregoing 
number  and  establish  soldiers  in  such  business.     Why  put 


ADVOCATE  AND  GUIDE.  123 

them  in  a  business  that  is  now  overcrowded,  and  in  which 
neither  fair  wages  nor  overhead  expenses  are  being  made, 
when  there  are  so  many  occupations  making  such  great 
profits  as  enumerated  above?  It  is  not  fair  to  the  soldiers, 
nor  to  the  farmers,  nor  to  the  consumers. 

All  officials  of  all  farmers'  organizations  should  concen- 
trate their  united  influence  on  Congress  at  once  to  induce  it 
to  build  or  commandeer  factories  and  put  the  soldiers  to 
making  all  those  articles  needed  by  the  farmers  in  order  to 
squeeze  the  excess  profits  out  of  them  and  force  their  price 
down.  Have  them  financed  free  by  the  government,  paid 
skilled  union  wages  and  sell  their  products  at  cost  to  the 
farmers  and  general  pubhc.  That  would  suit  the  soldiers 
much  better  than  to  place  them  on  land  where  nothing  but 
privation  and  destitution  and  pauperism  will  be  their  final 
experience. 

Industrial  and  Financial  Panic  Coming. 

As  sure  as  like  causes  produce  like  effects  there  is  coming 
a  financial  and  industrial  panic  within  a  decade  in  the  United 
States  unless  averted  by  the  farmers  unionizing  to  ward  it 
off.  This  will  be  caused,  as  were  previous  ones,  by  over- 
production of  farm  products  through  opening  up  vast  areas 
of  cheap  land  for  homesteads. 

From  1870  to  1900  railroads  were  built  through  the  five 
great  agricultural  States  of  the  two  Dakotas,  Nebraska, 
Kansas  and  Oklahoma  and  many  millions  of  acres  of  free 
government  land  and  cheap  railroad  land  were  brought  under 
cultivation  at  httle  cost.  These  States  flooded  the  markets 
with  farm  products  until  prices  went  below  transportation 
to  market  at  times.  The  result  was  that  nearly  all  values 
were  taken  out  of  farms  and  farm  products  all  over  the 
United  States.  This  resulted  in  farmers  everywhere  ceas- 
ing to  buy  any  manufactured  products  because  they  were 
out  of  money  and  could  get  none  for  their  products  above 


124  FARMERS   UNION  AND  FEDERATION 

taxes  and  interest,  and  often  not  that.  Consequently  fac- 
tories shut  down  everywhere  for  want  of  customers,  and 
labor  was  thrown  out  of  employment,  and  free  soup  houses 
became  the  only  thing  doing  an  increasing  business. 

Not  to  this  day  do  millions  who  suffered  then  know  what 
hit  them.  The  party  in  power  was  blamed  for  it  and  the 
people  put  it  out.  The  panic  got  worse  and  it  was  put  back 
again  with  no  better  results.  Free  silver  was  blamed  and 
was  demonetized.  No  relief.  Protective  tariff  and  tariff 
for  revenue  only  were  both  tried  with  no  remedial  result. 
Everything  but  the  real  cause  were  thought  of  and  tried  out 
except  the  free  coinage  of  silver  at  16  to  1.  Finally  all  concluded 
it  was  caused  by  overproduction  of  factory  goods.  Couldn't 
anyone  see  the  warehouses  were  full  of  them  and  none  com- 
ing to  buy?  But  that  was  only  an  effect,  not  the  cause. 
Couldn't  all  see  that  the  farmers  needed  and  could  use  all 
those  goods  and  many  times  more  had  they  money  to  buy 
them? 

Overproduction  of  farm  products  came  first,  as  it  will 
again,  through  the  present  plans  of  opening  up  at  government 
expense  vast  areas  of  virgin  land  for  free  homesteads  for  the 
millions  of  returning  soldiers  in  this  and  other  countries. 

Take  for  instance,  Saskatchewan,  one  of  the  great  unde- 
veloped agricultural  Provinces  of  Canada,  and  consider  its 
possibilities  alone  when  brought  under  full  cultivation  by 
the  returning  soldiers  as  is  being  planned.  It  is  larger  than 
Austria-Hungary  by  11,244  square  miles ;  than  Germany  by 
42,920  square  miles;  France  by  44,624  square  miles;  and 
Denmark,  Holland  and  Belgium  together  by  212,524  square 
miles.  It  contains  251,700  square  miles,  161,088,000  acres, 
and  has  yet  available  for  homesteads  for  soldiers  4,900,000 
acres.  A  total  of  20,643,863  acres  have  been  granted  to 
railway  companies,  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company  and  school 
endowments.  Here  follows  a  news  item  telling  how  a  rail- 
road is  going  to  dispose  of  its  grant  after  a  discussion  on 
what  to  do  with  the  returning  Canadian  soldiers : 


ADVOCATE  AND  GUIDE.  125 

"Canada  has  had  four  long  years  for  the  study  of  this  problem.  Her 
wounded  and  discharged  have  been  coming  back  in  a  steady  stream  dur- 
ing this  time,  and  plans  for  education  and  assimilation  have  had  time 
to  be  tested.  Perhaps  the  most  successful  plan  is  that  of  the  Canadian 
Pacific  Railway  Company,  which  seeks  to  induce  the  soldier  to  take 
up  farming.  The  benefits  of  this  plan  are  two-fold :  it  takes  care  of 
the  soldier  and  it  ensures  an  increase  in  food  production. 

"This  scheme  is  an  amplification  of  the  company's  successful  Ready 
Made  Farm  project.  It  aims  to  place  the  returned  soldier  on  a  farm 
provided  with  living  and  working  equipments.  The  farms  are  grouped 
into  communities  known  as  'Soldier  Colonies.'  Only  soldiers  may 
settle  in  these  colonies.  By  this  ruling  the  new  farmers  will  be  sur- 
rounded by  their  comrades-in-arms  and  a  close  community  spirit  is 
fostered.  The  colonies  contain  from  twenty-five  to  fifty  farms,  and  are 
located  in  southern  Alberta.  Some  are  irrigated,  others  can  easily  be 
made  so.  Each  colony  has  a  central  or  demonstration  farm  under  the 
care  of  an  agricultural  expert  whose  advice  and  help  are  at  the  settler's 
call,  while  this  farm  serves  as  a  social  center. 

"Each  farm  is  equipped  with  a  house,  barn  and  well,  is  partly  fenced 
and  broken,  in  some  cases  seeded.  Each  soldier  is  provided  with  live 
stock  and  machinery  sufficient  to  operate  his  80  or  160  acres.  If  he 
lacks  the  money  to  see  him  through  the  first  year,  the  company  will 
advance  the  necessary  funds.  No  payments  are  required  for  three 
years.  The  terms  are  very  easy,  being  so  planned  that  the  soldier 
farmers  will  have  a  good  start  on  the  road  to  prosperity  before  being 
called  upon  for  a  substantial  payment." 

There  is  the  menace  to  farmers,  the  seeds  of  sure  panic 
through  overproduction.  Canada  is  only  one  of  the  great 
undeveloped  American  countries  that  will  now  be  opened 
up  for  soldier  homesteads. 

The  question  now  is :  Are  the  farmers  who  have  invested 
a  lifetime  of  labor  in  building  up  a  valuable  home  and  those 
who  have  paid  thousands  of  dollars  for  one,  going  to  allow 
its  value  reduced  to  nothing  by  these  government  and  rail- 
road-financed and  free-land  farmers  as  did  the  farmers  in 
similar  cases  years  ago?  Are  they  willing  to  see  the  value 
taken  out  of  all  their  crops  and  products  and  labor  and  re- 
duced to  the  privations  of  a  panic  for  years  without  an  effort 
to  avert  it?  If  they  are  not,  they  have  no  time  to  spare  in 
beginning  to  save  themselves.     The  menace  is  here. 


126  FARMERS'  UNION  AND  FEDERATION 

The  only  course  to  take  is  to  unionize,  rush  agents  and 
literature  to  the  soldiers  to  divert  them  into  city  industries. 
See  that  those  who  cannot  be  so  diverted  are  unionized  to 
the  last  man  in  all  products  they  produce,  and  that  they 
adhere  to  the  minimum  prices  fixed  by  their  international 
union.  You  must  not  only  protect  yourselves  from  panic 
conditions  but  you  must  aid  in  saving  them  from  it.  Had 
the  farmers  of  the  old  settled  States  taken  this  course  when 
these  new  States  were  settled  they  could  have  saved  them- 
selves and  us,  too,  from  years  of  privation. 

Political  and  Industrial  Power  of  Union  Labor. 

Some  have  the  erroneous  idea  that  union  labor  is  a  tem- 
porary and  unnecessary  movement  that  should  be  and  can 
be  eliminated.  They  are  mistaken.  It  is  an  economic  ne- 
cessity to  protect  laborers  from  ruinous  competition  for  jobs 
among  themselves.  The  man  with  no  family  or  home  to 
provide  for  is  not  allowed  to  work  cheaper  than  those  who 
have,  else  such  men  would  make  it  impossible  for  those  who 
have  to  maintain  them.  This  same  principle  must  be  ap- 
plied to  farm  products  when  unionized. 

The  magnitude  of  unionized  labor  shows  that  it  would  be 
as  impossible  to  dissolve  it  as  to  reverse  gravitation.  It  is  a 
power  to  be  reckoned  with  as  being  here  to  stay,  to  be  lim- 
ited in  its  demands  only  by  opposing  unionized  interests 
equally  powerful.  It  has  grappled  with  organized  capital 
on  the  industrial  and  political  fields  and  forced  it  to  come 
down  from  its  supposed  impregnable  position  and  make  an 
equitable  division  to  labor  of  profits  it  had  been  monopohz- 
ing. 

The  "World  Almanac  and  Encyclopedia,"  1914,  says  of 
the  American  Federation  of  Labor : 

"The  Federation  is  composed  of  113  national  and  international 
unions,  representing  approximately  27,000  local  unions,  5  departments . 
42  State  branches,  615  city  central  unions,  and  673  local  unions.  The 
approximate  paid  membership  is  2,000,000.     The  affiliated  unions  pub- 


ADVOCATE  AND  GUIDE.  127 

lish  about  540  weekly  or  monthly  papers,  devoted  to  the  cause  of  labor. 
The  official  organ  is  the  American  Federationist,  edited  by  Samuel 
Gompers.  There  are  1,760  organizers  of  local  unions  acting  under  the 
orders  of  the  American  Federation  of  Labor.  The  objegts  and  aims  of 
the  American  Federation  of  Labor  are  officially  stated  to  render  em- 
ployment and  means  of  subsistence  less  precarious  by  securing  to  the 
workers  an  equitable  share  of  the  fruits  of  their  labor." 

With  the  changing  of  very  few  words  the  object  and  aims 
of  the  American  Federation  of  Farmers  would  be  identical 
with  that  of  the  American  Federation  of  Labor.  While 
labor  has  won  big  wages,  recognition,  power  and  influence 
through  unionizing,  it  still  remains  for  farmers  to  do  so. 

In  addressing  labor  at  Squantum,  Mass.,  in  April,  1918, 
Secretary  Daniels  said  that  the  men  turning  out  destroyers 
and  munitions  are  just  as  brave  as  the  men  who  are  at  the 
front.  He  called  attention  to  the  fact  that  there  is  not  a 
single  body  with  any  executive  power  that  does  not  have 
upon  it  a  representative  of  labor,  sitting  side  by  side  with 
the  representatives  of  the  employers  and  having  an  equal 
voice. 

Now  the  question  is.  Why  were  the  farmers  not  equally 
represented  with  labor  and  employers  in  matters  that  equally 
concerned  them?  The  answer  is  they  were  not  unionized, 
had  no  official  representatives  to  call  in  consultation.  They 
are  the  great  unorganized  nobodies,  without  power  or  in- 
fluence in  government  or  elsewhere,  while  that  of  unionized 
labor  is  increasing,  according  to  the  following  : 

"New  York,  Jan.  24. — Charles  M.  Schwab,  President  of  the  Beth- 
lehem Steel  Corporation,  declared  in  an  address  at  a  dinner  here  tonight 
that  the  time  is  near  at  hand  'when  the  man  of  the  working  class — 
the  men  without  property — will  control  the  destinies  of  the  world.  The 
Bolsheviki  sentiment  must  be  taken  into  consideration,'  Mr.  Schwab 
declared,  'and  in  the  very  near  future  we  must  look  to  the  worker  for 
a  solution  of  the  great  economic  questions  now  being  considered.  I 
am  not  one  to  carelessly  turn  over  my  belongings  for  the  uplift  of  the 
nation,  but  I  am  one  who  has  come  to  a  belief  that  the  worker  will 
rule,  and  the  sooner  we  realize  this  the  better  it  will  be  for  our  country 
and  the  world  at  large.'  " 


128  FARMERS'  UNION  AND  FEDERATION 

The  farmers  also  are  laborers.  They  should  unionize  to 
share  in  this  world-power  equally  with  unionized  labor.  The 
two  classes  should  and  could  rule  the  world.  We  have  seen 
in  the  world-war  the  utter  failure  of  other  classes  to  rule  the 
world  satisfactorily.  Now  these  two  great  classes  should  be 
given  a  try-out. 

How  Farmers  Can  Escape  the  High  Cost  of  Living. 

Instead  of  employers  of  labor  fighting  every  demand  for 
higher  wages,  as  they  did  formerly,  they  have  devised  a 
better  plan  to  escape  paying  it.  They  pay  the  price  de- 
manded, unionize  themselves  and  add  the  increased  wages 
to  the  price  of  their  products  or  service,  thus  passing  it  on 
to  the  consumers.  The  consumers,  excepting  the  farmers, 
have  unionized  their  various  professions,  and  in  turn  add 
this  increased  cost  of  living  to  their  services  or  salaries.  In 
this  way  all  classes  that  are  organized  become  passive  lo 
the  increased  cost  of  livjng.  They  are  not  relatively  affected 
by  it,  except  in  most  cases  they  add  more  than  enough  to 
balance  accounts  and  are  that  much  better  off.  The  farm- 
ers, being  the  largest  consuming  class,  are  the  ultimate  pay- 
masters of  the  many  wage  increases  added  to  all  articles 
they  buy  as  they  come  down  the  line  through  many  hands. 
Take,  for  example,  a  hide  the  farmer  sells  for  seven  cents  a 
pound.  It  then  goes  through  the  hands  of  several  dealers, 
trusts,  profiteerers,  factories,  jobbers,  transportations  and  re- 
tailer, with  all  union  wages,  costs  and  profits  added  to  its 
price,  until  it  gets  back  to  the  same  farmer  in  the  form  of 
shoes,  harness  or  leather  at  $1.50  a  pound  and  up^mostly 
up.  Now,  the  farmers,  being  unorganized,  have  no  possible 
chance  of  evading  paying  this  high  cost  of  union  labor  and 
profiteering;  but  as  soon  as  they  unionize  they  can.  The 
cost  of  leather,  shoes,  harness,  etc.,  wiU  be  estimated  in  the 
overhead  expenses  and  added  to  the  cost  of  producing  their 
own  products,  including  hides,  and  collected  through  the 
minimum  price  system. 


ADVOCATE  AND  GUIDE.  129 

Some  might  see  in  this  ring  system  that  the  farmers  them- 
selves as  consumers  would  pay  the  additional  price  of  the 
hide.  They  would  pay  their  share  of  it  proportionately  as 
it  returned  to  them  in  its  various  manufactured  articles 
they  use,  but  that  price  might  not  be  any  higher  on  account 
of  the  increased  price  for  farm  hides.  A  tracer  from  the 
price  equalization  board  of  the  hide  producers'  union  would 
trace  a  hide  through  all  its  course  and  the  union  would 
eliminate  all  excess  profits  by  a  more  direct  and  less  expen- 
sive routing;  This  would  result  in  higher  prices  for  farm 
hides  and  lower  prices  for  leather  goods. 

The  same  process  would  apply  to  most  all  unionized  farm 
products,  such  as  wheat,  cotton,  corn,  cattle,  hogs,  wool, 
poultry,  eggs,  butter,  etc.  Eggs  are  now  (Dec.  15,  1918),  60 
cents  a  dozen,  for  which  the  farmers  got  15  cents  last  spring 
when  the  hens  were  laying.  An  egg-producers'  union  could 
raise  the  price  to  35  cents  to  the  farmers  and  lower  it  to  40 
cents  to  the  consumers. 

Farmers  Not  Represented  in  the  President's  Official 

Family. 

The  President's  official  family  is  the  Cabinet,  composed  of 
the  Secretaries  of  Agriculture,  Commerce,  Labor,  State,  War, 
Navy,  Interior,  and  Treasury.  They  constitute  the  Presi- 
dent's advisory  council.  There  is  not  a  farmer  among  them 
according  to  their  biographies  in  the  Congressional  Directory. 
The  Secretary  of  Agriculture  is  supposed  to  represent  the 
farmers,  but  he  is  not  of  that  class  of  citizens,  and  can  no 
more  represent  the  interests  of  farmers  than  a  farmer  could 
the  interests  of  college  professors.  Here  is  his  biography 
from  the  Congressional  Directory  of  the  Sixty-fifth  Congress  : 

''David  Franklin  Houston,  of  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  Secretary  of  Agricul- 
ture (1808  New  Hampshire  Avenue),  was  born  in  Monroe,  Union 
County,  N.  C,  February  17,  1866 ;  A.  B.  South  Carolina  College  1887 ; 
A.  M.  Harvard  1892;    LL.  D.  Tulane  1903,  University  of  Wisconsin 


130  FARMERS'  UNION  AND  FEDERATION 

1906,  Yale  1913,  University  of  Missouri  1914,  Harvard  1914 ;  married 
Helen  Beall,  of  Austin,  Tex.,  December  11,  1895;  graduate  student 
political  science.  Harvard  1891-1894;  adjunct  professor  1894-1897, 
associate  professor  1897-1900,  professor  political  science  1900-1902, 
and  dean  of  faculty  1899-1902,  University  of  Texas ;  president  Agri- 
cultural and  Mechanical  College  of  Texas  1902-1905 ;  president  Uni- 
versity of  Texas  1905-1908;  chancellor  Washington  University,  St. 
Louis,  1908-1917.  Took  the  oath  of  office  as  Secretary  of  Agirculture 
on  March  6,  1913." 

Contrast  this  non-farming  representative  of  farmers  with 
the  laboring  representative  of  labor  and  you  can  easily  com- 
prehend why  union  labor  gets  wages  increased  while  farmers 
get  their  wages  decreased  when  both  appeal  to  the  President 
and  his  advisers  for  increases.  Here  is  his  biography  from 
the  same  source : 

"WilHam  Bauchop  Wilson,  of  Blossburg,  Pa.,  Secretary  of  Labor 
(1844  Mintwood  Place),  was  born  at  Blantyre,  Scotland,  April  2,  1862; 
came  to  this  country  with  his  parents  in  1870  and  settled  at  Arnot> 
Tioga  County,  Pa.  In  March,  1871,  he  began  working  in  the  coal 
mines;  in  November,  1873,  became  half  member  of  the  Mine  Workers' 
Union ;  has  taken  an  active  part  in  trade-union  affairs  from  early  man- 
hood ;  was  international  secretary-treasurer  of  the  United  Mine  Work- 
ers of  America  from  1900  to  1908,  having  been  elected  each  year  without 
opposition;  is  engaged  in  farming  at  Blossburg;  is  married  and  has 
nine  children ;  was  elected  to  the  Sixtieth,  Sixty-first,  and  Sixty-second 
Congresses  from  the  Fifteenth  Congressional  District  of  Pennsylvania ; 
chairman  Committee  on  Labor,  House  of  Representatives,  Sixty-second 
Congress.  Took  the  oath  of  office  as  Secretary  of  Labor  March  5, 
1913." 

Now  here  is  one  result  of  farmers  not  being  unionized  so 
they  can  see  that  they  have  true  representation  in  the  Cabi- 
net, Congress  and  everywhere  their  interests  are  at  stake  in 
government  policies  and  actions : 

"Washington,  Dec.  12. — Legislation  providing  for  the  colonization 
and  farming  of  the  public  lands  of  America  by  the  millions  of  soldiers 
released  from  the  army  is  strongly  urged  by  Secretary  of  Labor  William 
B.  Wilson,  in  his  annual  report  to  President  Wilson,  made  pubhc  today. 
Secretary  Wilson  recommended  the  organization  of  a  board  consisting 


ADVOCATE  AND  GUIDE.  131 

of  the  secretaries  of  the  Departments  of  Agriculture,  Interior  and  Labor 
to  supervise  the  general  plan  of  colonization  and  to  effect  its  operation 
should  the  necessary  legislation  be  forthcoming.  The  report  emphasized 
that  legislation  authorizing  such  a  plan  should  include  the  following 
provisions : 

"1.  The  possibility  of  commercialized  speculation  should  be  elim- 
inated. 

"2.  Colonists  must  be  given  access  not  only  to  land  but  to  farms, 
not  only  the  bare  soil,  but  fully  equipped  agricultural  plants  ready  to 
operate. 

"3.  The  farms  themselves  must  be  welded  together  into  genuine 
communities  by  provisions  for  roads,  schools  and  markets,  under  the 
general  supervision  of  the  Federal  government. 

''Secretary  Wilson  points  out  in  the  report  that  the  necessity  of  aug- 
menting the  world's  food  supply  for  many  years  to  come  necessitates  a 
more  extensive  and  more  intensive  cultivation  of  American  lands.  The 
soil  must  be  the  chief  working  opportunity  for  great  numbers  of  the 
nation's  wage  earners,  he  said. 

"The  grants  of  land  in  former  years  to  soldiers  were  of  almost  no 
value  to  them.  Secretary  Wilson  said,  because  of  the  extensive  evils  of 
land  speculation.  The  land  granted  to  the  soldiers  was  speedily  trans- 
ferred to  persons  who  resold  it  at  higher  prices.  For  this  reason  the 
Secretary  recommended  that  legislation  that  may  be  enacted  on  this 
subject  will  lay  less  stress  on  titles  and  more  upon  the  actual  use  of  the 
land  by  the  soldiers  and  other  colonists. 

"Previous  grants  of  land  to  soldiers  were  found  unsuccessful  for 
another  reason,  the  Secretary  said.  Frequently  the  efforts  of  the  former 
settlers,  many  of  them  not  used  to  frontier  hardships  or  familiar  with 
agriculture,  and  disliking  the  monotony,  resulted  in  failure,  and  an 
exodus  back  to  the  cities.  Secretary  Wilson,  therefore,  recommends 
that  the  Federal  government  make  provision  for  farming  communitieF 
and  agricultural  equipment. 

"  'I  recommend  the  early  enactment  of  such  legislation  as  may  be 
necessary  to  permit  the  preparation  of  the  public  domain  for  this  pur- 
pose. Such  legislation  should  provide  for  the  purchase  of  such  pri- 
vately owned  areas  as  it  may  be  found  desirable  to  add  to  the  public 
areas,'  he  said." 

There  you  see  how  the  representative  of  labor  is  advising 
the  government  to  provide  and  equip  farms  for  millions  of 
soldiers  at  public  expense  for  the  double  purpose  of  prevent- 


132  FARMERS'  UNION  AND  FEDERATION 

ing  them  from  lowering  union  wages  in  cities  by  an  over- 
supply  of  laborers  and  of  lowering  all  farm  products  through 
overproduction  of  them. 

Why  do  not  the  representatives  of  the  farmers  advise  the 
government  to  build  and  equip  railroads,  packing  plants, 
clothing  factories,  farm  implement  factories,  mining  plants, 
saw  mills,  etc.,  and  man  them  with  released  soldiers  to  pro- 
duce those  things  the  farmers  need?  It  is  because  the  farm- 
ers have  no  representatives  in  office  to  do  the  advising  and 
see  that  it  is  obeyed.  They  never  will  have  until  they  un- 
ionize by  products  and  elect  members  of  their  unions  to  all 
offices  they  can. 

With  the  idea  of  interesting  the  officials  of  such  farmers' 
organizations  as  we  have  in  this  matter,  I  had  the  following 
letter  pubhshed  in  our  local  daily  and  mailed  copies  to  mem- 
bers of  the  National  Board  of  Farm  Organizations : 

SUGGESTS  A  DISPOSITION  OF  DEMOBILIZED  SOLDIERS. 

"To  Mr.  Chas.  A.  Layman,  Secretary  National  Board  of  Farm  Organ- 
izations: 

"Dear  Sir:  I  write  to  call  your  attention,  and  through  you  that 
of  the  executive  committee  of  your  board,  to  the  government  policy 
developing  to  colonize  soldiers  on  land,  and  to  suggest  that  they  use 
their  influence  against  it,  for  the  following  reasons : 

"First.  To  reclaim  land  by  clearing,  grubbing  and  fencing  cutover 
forests,  irrigation  of  the  dry,  and  drainage  of  swampy  lands  and  mak- 
ing improved  farms  of  them  at  government  expense  for  free  distribu- 
tion to  soldiers,  as  proposed,  would  be  a  great  injustice  to  the  farmers 
who  have  devoted  a  lifetime  to  that  work  for  theirs,  or  have  paid  for 
them  in  the  savings  of  a  lifetime  of  hard  work. 

"Second.  Products  raised  on  these  free  farms  would  be  dumped 
onto  the  market  in  competition  with  that  of  farmers  who  must  pay 
for  theirs,  and  so  reduce  prices  as  would  make  it  impossible  to  do  so. 

'*  Third.  Farm  products  would  be  reduced  in  prices  to  those  of  1875 
to  1900,  resulting  in  a  chronic  state  of  panic  for  the  farmers  and  inter- 
mittent panic  for  almost  everyone  else,  from  the  same  cause — free  land 
and  an  overproduction  of  farm  products. 


ADVOCATE  AND  GUIDE.  133 

"Fourth.  As  the  prices  farmers  receive  for  some  products  are  not 
yet  high  enough  to  cover  fair  wages  and  overhead  expenses,  and  thus 
enable  them  to  modernize  their  homes,  their  children  are  leaving  them 
for  the  higher  wages  and  better  living  conditions  in  the  cities.  The 
further  lowering  of  prices  through  the  farm  colonizing  scheme  would 
result  in  driving  still  larger  numbers  of  present  farmers  to  cities. 

"Fifth.  Since  unionized  labor  and  unionized  capital  are  using  their 
influence  to  drive  the  government  to  this  course  to  bankrupt  the  farmer 
through  low  prices,  it  is  the  duty  of  organized  farmers  to  defend  them- 
selves by  a  counter  influence  on  our  common  government.  They  should 
induce  it  to  finance  and  place  the  soldiers  in  city  labor,  business  and 
professions  where  wages  and  profits  are  far  in  excess  of  those  of  the 
farmers  and  where  living  conditions  will  be  more  satisfactory  to  them. 

"With  this  object  in  view,  I  hope  the  officials  of  farm  organizations 
will  take  up  this  matter  with  the  proper  government  officials  and  Con- 
gress. 

W.  H.  Kerr. 

Great  Bend,  Kansas,  Dec.  20,  1918." 

"Washington,  Jan.  17. — Louis  F.  Post,  Assistant  Secretary  of  La- 
bor, and  William  Kent,  member  of  the  Tariff  Commission,  urged  the 
House  Committee  on  Labor  today  to  act  promptly  on  a  bill  by  Repre- 
sentative Kelley,  of  Pennsylvania,  appropriating  $500,000,000  for  the 
reclamation  and  occupation  by  returned  soldiers  of  215,000,000  acres 
of  land  now  idle.  The  bill  embodies  the  general  recommendations  of 
Secretary  Lane,  except  as  to  the  amount  and  the  method  of  expendi- 
ture. Mr.  Post  said  the  labor  situation  in  this  country  was  becoming 
extremely  critical,  and  that  unless  something  is  done  quickly  dis- 
charged soldiers  would  be  forced  to  stand  in  bread  lines." 

Organizations  of  farmers  should  counter  this  half  billion- 
dollar  proposition  with  a  demand  on.  Congress  to  appropriate 
ten  billion  dollars  to  build  and  equip  and  man  with  soldiers 
and  idle  laborers  factories  to  produce  clothing,  lumber,  im- 
plements, coal,  etc.,  at  cost,  for  the  farmers  and  consumers 
generally.  The  wheat  growers'  union  would  have  representa- 
tives in  Congress  to  do  such  things. 

Union  Labor  Plans  Political  Control. 

Union  labor  is  fast  learning  the  advantages  of  owning 
public  officials.  Legislatures,  Congress  and  the  courts  through 


134  FARMERS'  UNION  AND  FEDERATION 

electing  their  own  candidates  to  office.  They  have  learned 
that  from  organized  capital,  that  for  half  a  century  has  con- 
sidered it  a  good  investment  to  finance  the  election  of  mem- 
bers of  their  own  class  to  all  offices  from  which  they  could 
get  legislative  and  judicial  favors  worth  billions  of  dollars  to 
them. 

Now  union  labor  is  going  to  wrest  this  great  power  from 
capital  wherever  it  has  the  voting  numbers  to  do  it  by  nom- 
inating, financing  and  voting  collectively  for  candidates  of 
their  own. 

The  following  is  their  plans  for  control  of  Topeka  elections 
according  to  the  Topeka  Capital  of  December  30 : 

"That  organized  labor  will  take  a  hand  in  the  coming  city  political 
campaign  was  decided  yesterday  at  one  of  the  most  enthusiastic  mass 
'meetings  ever  held  under  the  auspices  of  the  Topeka  Industrial  Council. 
Two  hundred  union  men  and  women  informally  discussed  the  funda- 
mental principles  for  which  organized  labor  has  always  fought  and  which 
they  declared  should  be  incorporated  into  the  Topeka  city  government. 
Candidates  who  are  seeking  offices  merely  for  the  honor  and  prestige 
that  accompanies  the  position  were  bitterly  scored,  and  a  pledge  was 
taken  to  oppose  every  such  candidate  who  appears  during  the  pending 
campaign. 

"The  meeting  was  entirely  democratic,  practically  every  person 
present  participating  in  the  discussion.  Some  lively  debates  developed 
between  the  speakers,  but  finally  a  complete  agreement  was  reached 
and  a  temporary  organization  formed  which  later  will  be  turned  into 
one  of  the  most  gigantic  political  machines  ever  formed  in  Topeka  for 
campaign  purposes.  This  machine,  if  organized  on  the  plans  outlined 
yesterday,  will  include  nearly  8,000  members,  each  of  whom  will  be 
pledged  to  support  candidates  chosen  to  represent  the  union  interests 
in  Topeka.  It  is  declared  by  organized  labor  leaders  that  these  8,000 
members,  together  with  their  wives  and  other  voters  whom  they  can 
influence,  can  carry  every  candidate  put  on  the  ticket  for  mayor  and 
places  on  the  city  commission. 

"A  committee  of  twenty-one  men  was  appointed  to  appear  before  each 
of  the  forty-eight  local  unions  during  the  next  two  weeks  and  ask  for  a 
ratification  of  the  plans  to  put  a  labor  ticket  in  the  field.  With  the 
enthusiasm  of  all  representatives  attending  yesterday's  meeting  as  a 


ADVOCATE  AND  GUIDE.  135 

criterion,  every  union  will  vote  to  support  the  movement  both  morally 
and  financially.  While  the  platform  is  yet  in  the  stage  of  formation, 
it  will  be  completed  within  two  weeks,  and  submitted  to  the  locals  for 
their  approval. 

"But  few  of  the  planks  that  will  be  nailed  to  the  platform  were 
discussed  yesterday,  the  time  being  given  over  to  the  expression  of 
views  held  by  those  attending  the  meeting.  Every  person  taking  the 
floor  declared  that  the  time  is  ripe  for  organized  labor  to  have  a  voice 
in  the  administration  of  city  affairs.  Various  abuses  of  power  by  past 
and  present  city  officials  were  mentioned  as  valid  reasons  why  the  labor- 
ing men  and  women  should  have  something  to  say  about  how  the  city 
in  which  they  live  and  pay  taxes  is  run. 

**  It  was  pointed  out  that  the  Topeka  business  interests  are  given 
first  consideration  in  every  matter  coming  before  the  city  commission 
for  action,  while  the  laboring  man's  interests  are  completely  ignored. 
Speakers  declared  that  it  is  impossible  for  a  committee  of  laboring  men 
to  secure  a  hearing  before  the  mayor  or  city  commission.  It  was  as- 
serted that  the  police  force  is  compelled  to  work  from  eleven  to  thirteen 
hours  daily,  seven  days  a  week  and  for  wages  that  are  scarcely  suf- 
ficient for  the  members  to  support  their  families.  Many  other  com- 
plaints were  registered  against  the  city  administration  as  it  has  been 
manipulated  for  many  years. 

"While  the  meeting  was  held  under  the  auspices  of  the  Industrial 
Council,  that  body  will  have  nothing  to  do  with  the  real  campaign  that 
is  being  planned,  it  was  declared  by  James  O.  Stevic,  president  of  the 
Council,  who  was  selected  temporary  chairman  of  the  organization 
formed  for  the  purpose  of  completing  the  details  concerning  the  out- 
line of  plans  for  future  action.  The  committee  appointed  to  call  upon 
each  local  union  will  work  in  relays,  three  men  spending  one  night  ap- 
pearing before  the  various  unions  that  meet  in  Labor  Hall,  outlining 
the  plan  of  campaign  and  asking  for  a  definite  answer  from  that  par- 
ticular local.  Each  local  ratifying  the  plans  will  choose  a  committee* 
which  in  turn,  will  meet  with  the  committees  from  all  the  other  locals 
and  form  the  working  organization,  which  will  ultimately  become  the 
link  between  the  political  machine  and  the  members  of  the  locals. 

"When  the  permanent  organization  is  formed,  a  campaign  manager 
will  be  chosen,  the  locals  will  finance  the  candidates  chosen  for  the  vari- 
ous city  offices,  thus  eliminating  what  was  termed  the  only  reason  a 
poor  man  has  been  unable  to  enter  the  city  campaigns. 

"If  the  union  candidates  are  successful  in  the  city  election  it  is 
probable  that  one  of  the  first  steps  taken  will  be  the  inauguration  of  a 
movement  to  secure  a  municipal  cold  storage  plant,  and  the  installa- 


136  FARMERS'  UNION  AND  FEDERATION 

tion  of  a  city  market  where  the  farmers  of  Shawnee  County  can  bring 
their  produce  and  receive  a  better  price  than  can  be  obtained  from  the 
commission  men.  In  turn  the  consumers  will  be  able  to  get  food  prod- 
ucts at  prices  far  below  those  charged  at  present  by  retail  firms. 

"Another  meeting  will  be  held  next  Sunday  afternoon  at  Labor  Hall, 
and  at  that  time  it  is  planned  to  discuss  more  fully  the  platform  on 
which  the  union  candidates  will  make  their  races.  With  yesterday's 
showing  as  a  criterion  it  is  believed  that  before  many  weeks  have  passed 
these  Sunday  meetings  will  have  gained  such  magnitude  that  the  city 
Auditorium  will  be  impressed  into  service  as  a  meeting  place.  Labor 
Hall  was  comfortably  filled  yesterday,  and  every  man  present  either 
promised  to  bring  his  wife  or  another  union  member  next  Sunday. 

"During  the  week  the  locals  will  hear  the  committees  who  will  ap- 
pear before  them,  explaining  the  new  movement  to  gain  control  of  the 
city  government."  *" 

I  have  given  this  space  to  the  plan  in  full,  as  it  indicates 
the  trend  of  union  labor  everywhere  and  forecasts  the  time 
when  it  will  spread  to  the  control  of  State  and  National 
elections  as  well  as  that  of  all  large  cities.  Also,  most  of 
their  reasons  and  plans  for  political  control  can  be  adopted 
by  unionized  farmers,  who  should  immediately  follow  closely 
their  methods  both  in  unionizing  and  political  action. 

Bolshevism  in  Russia  is  an  effort  by  the  propertyless  class 
to  gain  control  of  government  by  armed  force.  The  demo- 
cratic way  is  to  gain  control  through  the  ballot  in  a  peaceful 
way.  That  is  the  union  labor  program  in  most  all  countries, 
and  is  contemplating  world-wide  control  according  to  the 
following : 

"London,  Dec.  28. — Diplomatic  circles  here  are  also  taking  cogni- 
zance of  a  report  that  the  labor  conference  in  France  will  take  no  action 
pending  the  arrival  of  the  American  delegates  to  be  headed  by  Samuel 
Gompers.  Consideration  is  being  given  in  government  circles  to  the 
proposal  that  the  labor  conference  should  make  its  information  and 
views  available  for  the  peace  delegates  of  the  Allies  who,  if  they  think 
it  advisable,  could  consult  unofficially  with  the  labor  conference  on 
certain  points.  The  belief  is  gaining  ground  that  from  the  meeting  of 
labor  delegates  in  France  will  arise  a  scheme  for  an  international  fed- 


ADVOCATE  AND  GUIDE.  137 

eration  of  labor  to  unite  the  workers  of  the  world.  Many  difficulties 
are  in  the  path  of  such  an  achievement,  it  is  recognized,  but  if  it  is  ac- 
complished such  a  league  would  possess  power  for  development  of  vast 
possibilities." 

A  world  ruled  by  union  labor  entirely  would  be  as  unde- 
sirable as  a  capitalist-ruled  world.  It  is  therefore  most  de- 
sirable that  the  farmers  unionize  and  go  into  politics  to  act 
as  a  check  on  the  power  and  demands  of  union  labor,  since 
they  are  both  laborers  and  capitalists  where  they  own  and 
work  their  farms. 

Bolshevism  to  Spread  Over  All  the  World. 

The  world-war  has  taught  the  common  men  their  in- 
vincible power  when  organized  into  a  military  machine,  aRd 
they  will  never  submit  peacefully  again  to  bear  the  prewar 
burdens  without  ample  compensation.  MiUions  of  soldiers 
were  demobilized  in  Russia  and  expected  to  ''root  hog  or 
die"  as  before.  But  so  long  as  there  is  food  to  be  found 
anywhere,  they  know  another  way  of  getting  it  than  through 
starvation  wages.  They  have  taken  forcible  possession  of 
wealth-producing  property,  and  all  the  world  is  watching  to 
see  what  use  they  will  make  of  it.  If  they  demonstrate  they 
can  administer  it  to  greater  advantage  and  satisfaction  to 
their  populations  than  the  capitalist  system  did,  then  the 
same  classes  of  people  in  all  capital-ruled  countries  will  or- 
ganize to  adopt  it. 

That  all  capitalist  governments  are  alarmed  at  the  grow- 
ing power  of  the  Bolsheviki  is  evident  from  the  following 
London  news  item : 

"London,  Jan.  2. — The  Bolshevik  menace  is  almost  certain  to  be  one 
of  the  first  subjects  discussed  by  the  peace  delegates,  the  Evening 
News  stated  today.  Berlin,  which  incited  Russia's  present  criminal 
regime  to  embarrass  the  Allies,  is  now  alarmed  for  its  own  safety.  It 
is  reported  from  Esthonia,  Lithuania,  Livonia,  East  Prussia  and  Prus- 
sian Poland,  as  well  as  from  Austrian  Poland  and  the  Ukraine,  that  the 
red  army  is  sweeping  on,  leaving  in  its  wake  a  trail  of  bloodshed  and 
desolation." 


138  FARMERS'  UNION  AND  FEDERATION 

Back  of  the  long  retention  of  unneeded  soldiers  on  the 
pay  rolls  and  continual  increased  wages  to  union  labor  is 
the  fear  of  them  becoming  Bolsheviks  if  not  well  provided 
for.  Governments  must  remember  that  this  menacing  red 
army  is  partly  composed  of  farmers  who  have  been  forced 
below  the  danger  line  of  poverty  by  manipulators  of  their 
products,  and  if  other  classes  are  to  be  subsidized  by  higher 
wages  to  turn  a  deaf  ear  to  agents  of  the  Bolsheviki,  farmers 
must  be  also  through  better  wages  and  improved  living  con- 
ditions by  a  higher  range  of  prices  for  their  products. 

It  would  appear  that  our  government  should  encourage 
the  farmers  to  unionize  to  enforce  a  living  wage  through  the 
minimum  price  system,  that  they  may  act  as  a  stabihzing 
power  to  the  government  against  the  ever  increasing  de- 
mands of  unionized  labor  which  aims  at  the  absolute  control 
of  all  industry  through  the  Russian  Soviet  form  of  govern- 
ment, according  to  Mr.  Upton  Sinclair,  who  says  of  it  in  the 
following  excerpts : 

" .  .  .  No,  said  the  syndicalist,  the  Parliament  which  is  to  con- 
trol industry  must  be  chosen,  not  geographically,  but  industrially.  It 
must  be  a  Parliament  of  the  workers,  organized  according  to  the  work 
they  do.     .     .     . 

"And  that  is  what  a  Soviet  is.  Soviet  is  simply  the  Russian  word 
for  union.  The  Soviet  government  of  Russia  is  simply  a  government 
by  the  trade  unions  of  that  country.     .     .     . 

"All  over  England  the  beginnings  of  industrial  democracy  have  been 
made,  and  it  needs  only  the  pressure  of  a  few  big  strikes  to  force  a  com- 
plete system  of  labor  union  control.  These  strikes  may  come  in  Eng- 
land any  day,  and  when  they  do  come  there  will  be  Soviet  government 
in  England.     .     .     . 

"If  those  things  are  ever  tried  again  in  America,  we  shall  wake  up 
some  fine  day,  just  as  the  Russians  did,  to  fkid  a  Syndicalist  govern- 
ment in  full  control;  the  mines  for  the  miners,  the  railways  for  the 
rail  way  men,  and  so  on." 

Union  labor  does  not  recognize  farmers  as  laborers,  but 
class  them  as  bourgeoisie,  or  middle  class,  as  distinguished 
from  the- proletariat,  their  class.     This  latter  class  is  now  in 


ADVOCATE  AND  GUIDE.  139 

power  in  parts  of  Russia  and  are  robbing  and  murdering  the 
farmers  who  own  their  homes,  and  take  forcible  possession 
of  them.  The  farmers  are  the  only  class  who  could  cope  with 
the  red  terror  of  Bolshevism  should  it  spring  up  in  full  force 
in  this  country,  and  they  would  be  powerless  to  defend  them- 
selves and  their  homes  unless  they  are  fully  unionized  so 
they  could  be  quickly  mobilized. 

Are  your  homes  worth  defending  against  Bolshevism?  It 
is  for  the  farmers  to  say  and  unionize  if  they  are. 

Political  Power  of  Unionized  Farmers. 

Farmers  have  not  yet  tapped  their  greatest  source  of 
wealth — political  power.  By  unionizing  and  becoming  class 
conscious,  and  going  into  politics  as  a  voting  unit,  as  union 
labor  will  do,  the  farmers  can  capture  the  law-making  and 
Enforcing  offices,  and  consequently  the  advantages  and  pow- 
ers pertaining  thereto. 

It  has  been  intimated  to  me  that  the  minimum  price  sys- 
tem herein  advocated  would  run  afoul  of  the  anti-trust  laws 
and  be  prohibited.  But  I  understand  that  organizations  of 
farmers  and  laborers  are  exempted.  However,  it  should  be 
tried  out  to  see  if  the  farmers  are  helplessly  tied  down  while 
a  hundred  trusts  and  profiteerers  are  allowed  to  skin  them 
financially. 

Since  unionized  capital,  unionized  labor  and  unionized 
professions  do  agree  collectively  on  prices  for  their  labor 
and  services,  farmers  must  be  allowed  to  do  the  same  to  be 
on  equal  terms  and  advantages.  It  might  be  timely  to  take 
a  survey  of  the  farmers'  potential  political  power  and  their 
relative  power  to  other  classes,  especially  organized  labor. 

The  1910  United  States  Census  enumerates  those  in  all 
occupations  as  38,167,336,  of  whom  8,075,772  are  females. 
Engaged  in  agriculture,  forestry,  and  animal  husbandry, 
12,659,203,  or  33.2  per  cent ;  manufacturing  and  mechanical 
industries,  10,658,881 ,  or  27.9  per  cent ;  domestic  and  personal 


^  140  FARMERS'  UNION  AND  FEDERATION 

service,  3,772,174,  or  9.9  per  cent ;  trade,  3,614,67a,  or  9.5  per 
cent;  transportation,  2,637,671,  or  6.9  per  cent;  clerical  oc- 
cupations, 1,737,053,  or  4.6*  per  cent ;  professional  services, 
1,663,569,  or  4.4  per  cent ;  extraction  of  minerals,  964,824,  or 
2.5  per  cent;   not  classified,  459,291,  or  1.2  per  cent. 

The  same  census  gives  the  rural  population  as  49,348,883, 
or  53.7  per  cent  of  entire  population  to  that  of  the  urban 
of  42,623,383,  or  46.3  per  cent.  The  rural  includes  towns  of 
less  than  2,500  population. 

This  showing  indicates  that  political  power  if  thoroughly 
organized  in  classes  lays  between  the  farmers  and  affiliated 
industries,  and  manufacturing  and  mechanical  industries, 
with  the  advantage  still  in  favor  of  the  rural  population.  A 
coalition  between  unionized  farmers  and  unionized  labor  for 
control  of  political  power  would  be  possible  and  their  com- 
bined voting  power  would  be  irresistible.  They  have  so 
much  interest  in  common  that  they  should  make  a  poHtical 
pact  to  gain  control  of  Congress  by  electing  members  of  their 
own  unions  to  all  State  and  National  legislative,  executive 
and  judicial  offices.  In  the  large  cities  and  industrial  centers 
where  union  labor  predominates  they  should  nominate, 
finance  and  elect  members  of  their  unions  to  all  offices,  and 
in  all  other  places  the  unionized  farmers  should  do  the  same. 
This  would  put  the  government  where  it  should  be — in  the 
hands  of  the  great  majority. 

The  majority  of  Congressmen  now  are  lawyers,  though 
they  are  but  a  small  fraction  of  one  per  cent  of  the  popula- 
tion. Of  the  96  Senators  of  the  Sixty-third  Congress,  55  are 
lawyers,  and  of  the  435  Representatives  247  are  lawyers. 
Thus  over  56  per  cent  of  Congress  are  lawyers  to  less  than 
4  per  cent  farmers,  and  no  union  labor  members  mentioned. 
Of  the  302  lawyers,  256  are  college  bred  men. 

These  lawyers  as  a  class  can  have  no  sympathy  for,  nor 
interest  in  the  welfare  of  laborers  or  farmers  for  two  princi- 
pal reasons :    they  are  of  the  small  wealthy  class  who  are 


ADVOCATE  AND  GUIDE.  141 

neither  laborers  nor  farmers,  and  who  are  the  retainers  of 
the  rich  at  such  fees  and  salaries  as  farmers  and  laborers 
could  not  give.  Therefore,  they  will  favor  the  wealthy  class 
at  the  expense  of  both  farmers  and  laborers  in  all  legislation 
to  enable  them  to  stay  rich  and  continue  paying  huge  lawyer 
fees. 

As  a  life-long  farmer  I  would  much  rather  have  members 
of  labor  unions  in  Congress  in  place  of  these  lawyers,  though 
they  never  saw  the  inside  of  a  rich  man's  college.  Their 
interest  and  concern  would  be  for  the  working  people  in- 
stead of  the  idle  rich,  who  prey  on  both  farmers  and  city 
laborers. 

Now,  what  do  you  unionized  laborers  say  to  the  proposi- 
tion of  uniting  with  unionized  farmers  to  oust  these  lawyer- 
retainers  of  predatory  wealth  from  Congress  and  placing 
therein  our  own  representatives?  It  can  be  done,  and  it 
should  be  done.  It  would  be  worth  biUions  of  dollars  an- 
nually to  each  of  our  classes.  We  have  the  voting  power  to 
do  it.  Why  not  use  it  for  our  own  interests  instead  of  using 
it  against  our  interest  as  both  our  classes  have  done  in  the 
past? 

Farmers  everywhere  should  unionize  as  fast  as  possible  to 
get  in  position  to  vote  as  a  unit  and  put  members  of  their 
unions  in  all  offices  where  they  have  the  voting  strength  to 
do  it,  and  to  unite  with  union  labor  where  they  have  not. 
They  should  discard  Democrat,  Republican  and  Socialist, 
etc.,  as  party  labels  and  adopt  their  union  name.  This 
would  put  them  in  position  to  know  and  vote  for  their  friends 
for  offices.  Each  nationally  unionized  product  would  have 
its  political  advisory  board,  which  in  connection  with  all  such 
boards  would  direct  the  political  power  of  farmers  in  unison 
to  prevent  its  dissipation  in  divisions  as  it  has  been.  With- 
out such  guidance  farmers  are  as  liable  to  vote  for  their 
adversaries  as  for  their  friends,  as  they  did  in  the  last  elec- 
tion in  Kansas  by  voting  against  their  Congressmen  who 
worked  for  higher  wheat  prices. 


142  FARMERS'  UNION  AND  FEDERATION 

United  States  to  be  Operated  as  a  Single  Farm. 

One  of  the  greatest  advantages  to  be  had  from  the  union- 
ization of  farmers  is  the  balancing  and  constant  adjustment 
in  the  production  of  the  many  different  farm  products 
throughout  the  United  States  to  prevent  any  of  them  be- 
coming a  drug  on  the  market  from  overproduction  in  a 
series  of  years,  and  to  produce  things  most  needed.  As  it 
is  now,  the  pendulum  of  production  swings  to  extremes  in 
any  product  that  happens  to  be  for  a  while,  through  scarcity 
or  manipulation,  above  its  normal  price  compared  with 
other  products.  When  there  is  more  money  to  be  made  in 
raising  and  feeding  hogs  and  cattle  than  in  raising  cereals 
for  a  few  years,  then  all  who  can  turn  to  their  production. 
Farms  are  seeded  to  hay  crops  and  production  of  grain  crops 
abandoned.  This,  then,  is  carried  to  the  other  extreme,  which 
reverses  prices,  putting  grain,  especially  corn,  too  high  to 
feed  to  an  ever  declining  beef  and  pork  market.  Then  at 
once  all  abandon  stock  feeding  and  go  into  grain  production 
until  the  price  pendulum  swings  to  extremes  in  the  other 
direction.  The  same  process  goes  on  between  the  several 
different  grain  crops  and  between  grain  and  cotton,  owing  to 
such  large  sections  of  the  United  States  being  adapted  to  the 
production  of  a  large  variety  of  products. 

There  is  nothing  now  to  guide  a  farmer  in  determining  in 
advance  what  products  he  should  raise  to  produce  the  most 
money.  It  is  the  bhndest  kind  of  a  gamble  if  he  hits  it. 
Were  the  farmers  unionized  by  products  an  executive  com- 
mittee of  each  would  form  the  National  Crop  Survey  Board, 
to  determine  in  advance  what  crops  should  be  increased  and 
what  decreased  and  to  what  per  cent  in  the  several  districts 
the  nation  would  be  divided  into.  The  entire  United  States 
would  thus  be  operated  as  one  mammoth  farm  in  the  pro- 
duction of  all  its  farm  products  for  both  home  consumption 
and  export.  This  service  alone  would  be  worth  bilHons  of 
dollars  annually  to  the  farmers  and  more  than  justify  all 
their  expense  and  work  of  unionizing. 


ADVOCATE  AND  GUIDE.  143 

As  the  farmers  of  other  nations  unionize,  delegates  from 
their  National  Crop  Survey  Boards  would  meet  to  form  an 
International  Crop  Survey  Board,  and  thus  to  a  large  extent 
direct  the  farming  of  the  entire  world,  as  it  should  be  done, 
from  one  central  overseeing  body.  This  is  necessary  to  pre- 
vent acute  famine  in  some  parts  of  the  world  in  some  prod- 
ucts and  overproduction  of  them  in  other  parts,  or  a  pos- 
sible world  shortage  of  some  crops. 

Crop  Optimist  Should  be  Canned. 

Another  good  result,  to  the  Central  Western  States  at 
least,  through  unionizing  would  be  the  canning  of  the  crop 
optimists,  who  have  cost  these  States  many  billions  of  dol- 
lars in  the  aggregate.  The  wind-jamming  and  tin  horn 
blowing  about  the  size  and  expectation  of  bumper  crops  have 
for  decades  been  the  bane  of  Kansas  and  other  wheat-pro- 
ducing States.  This  propensity  developed  abnormally  in 
the  years  from  1870  to  1890  from  railroad  and  real  estate  ad- 
vertising to  induce  people  to  come  west  and  settle  up  the 
country.  It  became  epidemic  and  remained  chronic  over 
all  the  West.  All  newspapers  gladly  gave  it  any  amount  of 
free  space.  All  classes  were  clamoring  for  a  greater  immi- 
gration, and  the  knocker  was  tabooed  everywhere.  No  pes- 
simistic news  or  conditions  were  given  a  hearing  anywhere, 
as  it  might  injure  the  real  estate  business  and  discourage 
people  and  capital  coming  to  the  locality. 

People  bore  their  poverty,  crop  failures  and  disappoint- 
ments in  silence,  but  when  luck  and  weather  conditions  com- 
bined to  favor  them  with  even  the  prospect  of  a  good  crop 
their  joyous  hopes  of  a  bumper  crop  were  heard  'round  the 
world.  Option  gamblers  made  a  note  of  it,  and  next  day 
sold  it  down  on  the  boards  of  trade  all  over  the  world.  Every 
dealer  in  blue  sky  get-rich-quick  schemes  rushed  their 
agents  to  the  favored  country.  Trusts  voted  a  25  per  cent 
raise  on  all  goods  going  into  this  new-rich  country.     Goods 


144  FARMERS'  UNION  AND  FEDERATION 

and  professional  services  to  the  farmers  advanced  sharply, 
for  why  shouldn't  people  with  such  glowing  prospects  for 
wealth  pay  more?  Every  rain  or  snow  from  the  time  farm- 
ers begin  to  plow  for  next  year's  wheat  crop  until  it  is  ready 
to  harvest — from  August  to  June — is  heralded  as  a  million- 
dollar  donation  to  the  farmers,  and  everybody  living  off  the 
farmers'  patronage  want  their  share  of  it  immediately.  When 
the  crop  finally  fizzles  out  from  too  much  hot  air,  everyone 
looks  blue  but  says  nothing,  and  the  outside  world  is  left  in 
the  dark  as  to  what  became  of  the  farmers'  immense  wealth 
they  had  heard  of. 

Should  the  crop,  from  some  occasional  freak  of  nature, 
really  turn  out  to  be  a  mortgage-lifter,  as  they  are  erroneously 
called  from  their  great  size,  it  is  found  that  their  excess  has 
been  more  than  discounted  in  price  by  the  grain  gamblers, 
and  less  money  is  realized  on  them  than  on  poor  crops.  Yet 
the  fiction  is  still  kept  alive  that  they  are  mortgage-lifters, 
when  in  reality  they  are  the  reverse.  But  one  never  sees 
these  mortgage  statistics  in  the  papers  because  they  tell 
things  the  population  boosters  do  not  want  made  pubHc. 
So  I  shall  just  drag  them  out  from  their  hiding  place  and 
show  them  up. 

Of  the  118,031  owned  farm  homes  in  Kansas  in  1890, 
65,483,  or  55.5  per  cent  of  them,  were  mortgaged  to  an  av- 
erage of  $1,126  to  the  farm,  a  total  of  $73,749,283.  Of  the 
111,108  owned  farms  in  1910,  49,249,  or  44.8  per  cent,  were 
mortgaged  on  an  average  of  $2,326,  a  total  of  $70,819,736. 
The  number  of  these  farms  decreased  in  the  twenty  years 
6,923,  while  the  mortgaged  debt  per  farm  increased  $1,200- 
That  does  not  speak  well  for  the  great  mortgage-lifting  crops 
doing  their  expected  duty. 

In  1880,  22,651,  or  16.3  per  cent,  of  Kansas  farms  were 
operated  by  tenants,  which  in  1910  had  risen  to  65,398,  or 
36.8  per  cent  of  the  farms  thus  operated.  These  rented 
farms  represent  largely  those  on  which  mortgages  were  fore- 


ADVOCATE  AND  GUIDE.  145 

closed.  These  statistics  do  not  indicate  a  thriving  condition 
for  the  farmers.  None  should  brag  about  the  prosperity  of 
the  farmers  until  these  mortgages  are  all  paid  off.  And  they 
should  not  be  paid  off  by  the  Federal  Farm  Loan  plan  either, 
but  by  an  increased  price  for  their  products. 

The  Federal  Farm  Loan  plan  is  the  banker's  device  to  get 
a  perpetual  mortgage  on  all  the  farms  and  to  hold  all  for 
the  security  of  each.  Before  the  scheme  was  in  working  order 
three  months,  over  $7,000,000  had  been  loaned  the  farmers, 
and  over  5,000  farm-loan  associations  were  being  organized 
throughout  the  United  States.  It  was  expected  that  over 
$200,000,000  would  be  loaned  to  these  farm  associations 
within  the  first  year.  The  government  aided  the  banks  in 
this  scheme  to  get  a  strangle-hold  on  .the  farmers,  but  will 
not  aid  the  farmers  the  least  bit  to  get  released.  They 
should  unionize  to  release  themselves  through  higher  wages 
to  save  mortgaging,  and  pay  off  the  old  debts. 

Governor  Sees  Conditions  But  Not  Remedy. 

Excerpts  from  Governor  Allen's  message  to  the  Kansas 
Legislature  on  January  15,  shows  that  he  recognizes  a  de- 
plorable condition  in  agriculture,  but  suggests  false  remedies 
unless  safeguarded  by  the  minimum  price  system : 

''In  my  judgment,  the  most  rapidly  growing  question  in  Kansas 
today  is  that  which  concerns  the  increase  in  tenant  occupation  of  farm 
lands. 

"All  countries  have  had  their  day  with  this  menace.  The  Eastern 
States  have  struggled  with  it  for  years.  In  Illinois  it  has  grown  so 
alarmingly  that  something  hke  60  per  cent  of  the  best  land  of  that 
State  is  now  owned  by  men  who  hold  it  for  speculative  purposes  or  for 
what  it  will  yield  to  them  in  rentals.  For  so  many  years  in  Kansas  we 
were  free  from  the  evil  that  we  had  grown  into  the  easy  habit  of  believ- 
ing that  we  would  always  be  exempt.  It  has  been  the  boast  of  all 
citizens  who  eulogize  the  State  that  we  are  'a  commonwealth  of  home- 
owners.' Therefore  it  comes  as  something  of  an  alarming  surprise  to 
note  that  since  1880  the  percentage  of  farms  operated  by  tenants  has 
been  increasing  as  rapidly  in  this  State  as  in  any^State  in  the  Union, 


146  FARMERS'  UNION  AND  FEDERATION 

and  much  more  rapidly  than  in  many  of  our  sister  States.  Today  in 
some  of  the  counties  comprising  the  eastern  half  of  the  State,  practically 
50  per  cent  of  the  farms  are  operated  by  tenants.  In  1880,  the  per- 
centage of  Kansas  farms  operated  by  owners  in  proportion  to  the 
whole  was  83.7.  In  thirty  years  this  decreased  to  63.2;  during  the 
past  ten  years  it  is  apparent,  so  far  as  figures  are  available,  that  the 
farther  decrease  has  brought  the  situation  almost  to  a  point  where  half 
the  farms  of  this  State  are  operated  by  tenants.     .     .     . 

"I  think  it  will  be  accepted  almost  without  argument  that  no  more 
overwhelming  disaster  can  come  to  any  commonwealth  than  that  which 
is  threatened  in  the  present  tendency.  As  we  contemplate  the  after- 
war  conditions  which  now  confront  us,  the  greater  danger  in  America, 
it  appears  to  me,  is  that  peculiar  tide  of  unrest  which  we  call  Bolshe- 
vism, I.  W.  W.ism,  and  the  other  forms  of  social  discontent.  The 
world  is  uneasy  with  this  spirit  just  now.  In  Russia  first,  and  later  in 
Austria  and  in  Germany,  the  discontented  classes  have  destroyed  gov_ 
ernment  and  now  seek  to  restore  the  equilibrium  without  any  very 
definite  program  of  order.     .     .     . 

"In  a  just  government  there  is  only  one  real  remedy  against  the 
rising  tide.  There  is  only  one  sure  process  by  which  you  may  make  a 
man  an  optimistic,  constructive  influence  in  this  country,  and  that  is 
by  adding  him  to  the  home-owning  class.     .     .     . 

"To  get  rid,  as  far  as  possible,  of  farm  tenantry,  to  promote  the 
tilhng  of  the  soil  by  the  owner  of  the  land,  to  increase  the  number  of 
homes  owned  by  farmers  and  others,  should  be  the  most  important 
governmental  object  of  the  present  hour  in  this  State.  Every  consid- 
eration calls  for  it.  Not  only  the  protection  of  the  State  against  the 
rapid  increase  of  speculation  in  our  farm  lands  demands  it,  but  a  new 
reason  impels  us  especially  at  this  time." 

Now  for  his  suggested  remedies,  which  would  make  con- 
ditions much  worse  through  overproduction  if  put  in  force : 

"Secretary  Lane  has  suggested  a  plan  which  will  bring  relief  in 
some  States.  This  plan  places  at  the  disposal  of  soldiers,  on  easy 
terms,  public  lands  and  lands  secured  through  reclamation  projects. 
We  have  no  such  lands  in  Kansas,  so  that  our  measure  of  relief  must  be 
in  whatever  provisions  are  possible  to  secure  a  redistribution.  Any 
effective  plan  in  this  direction  depends  first  upon  cheap  money  and  the 
possibility  of  buying  on  easy  terms. 

"California  has  taken  a  very  progressive  step  in  this  direction  in 
the  creation  of  a  fund  through  which  she  buys  lands  in  large  holdings 


ADVOCATE  AND  GUIDE,  147 

and  resells  them  to  small  farmers  on  ieasy  payments.  Other  States 
are  studying  the  proposition  of  creating  associations  backed  by  the 
States  to  create  a  system  of  credits  through  which  a  good  tenant  farmer 
can  borrow  up  to  90  per  cent  of  the  value  of  the  land.     .     .     . 

"A  valuable  addition  to  small  land  holdings  might  also  come  from  a 
more  inteUigent  and  effective  interest  in  the  possibiHties  of  irrigation  in 
the  western  portion  of  the  State." 

His  program  further  suggests :  Exemption  from  taxation 
of  all  improvements  on  land  farmed  by  owners ;  special  tax 
on  absentees ;  exemption  of  mortgages  from  taxation  ;  cheap 
money  for  loans  to  near  value  of  the  land ;  limiting  amount 
of  land  a  man  may  own  for  speculation  ;  higher  rate  of  taxes 
on  tenant  lands  than  on  owner-farmed;  land  indebtedness 
not  included  for  taxes  on  farms  less  than  160  acres  ;  increased 
tax  rate  with  increased  holdings  of  all  kinds  of  property. 
State  aid  in  buying  farms  for  those  who  want  them  for 
homes. 

Now,  all  these  schemes  to  increase  the  number  of  farmers 
and  quantity  of  farm  products  would  be  in  vain  were  there 
no  minimum  price  system  enforced  by  the  farmers  to  insure 
good  wages  and  overhead  expenses,  for  without  it  prices 
would  go  so  low  that  people  could  not  make  a  decent  living 
on  80  or  160  acres,  though  they  be  relieved  of  paying  taxes> 
interest  and  payments  on  the  land.  Land  would  become 
worthless  again  and  people  would  desert  it  by  thousands  as 
before  for  the  better  wages  and  living  conditions  in  cities. 
Only  by  having  a  large  family  of  working  age  to  furnish  free 
labor  could  an  industrious  farmer  by  good  management  sur- 
vive through  buying  out  a  half  dozen  of  his  neighbors  when 
they  become  dissatisfied  to  the  extent  of  almost  giving  it 
away  to  seek  a  living  wage  elsewhere. 

Those  were  the  exact  conditions  I  lived  through  in  Kansas 
during  the  time  of  practically  free  government  lands  and 
very  cheap  railroad  land  on  eleven  years'  time  with  little  or 
no  taxes,  interest  or  payments  to  make  for  years.  Those 
were  the  good  old  times  when  farmers  fed  the  world  free. 


148  FARMERS'  UNION  AND  FEDERATION 

that  union  labor  and  union  employers  hope  to  see  again, 
but  which  farmers  should  unionize  to  prevent  coming. 
'  No  scheme  will  work  to  keep  men  on  a  farm  at  fifty  cents 
a  day  when  they  can  get  six  dollars  a  day  in  town,  and  it 
need  not  be  tried  out  again.  Union  wages  in  cities  must 
either  come  down  or  wages  to  farmers  kept  up  or  they  will 
inevitably  desert  the  farm  to  scab  on  union  labor  if  not  ad- 
mitted as  members. 

As  to  land  redistribution  and  farm  homes  being  a  panacea 
for  Bolshevism  and  I.  W.  W.ism  it  is  nothing  of  the  kind. 
What  those  men  want  that  some  writers  mistake  for  ''land- 
hunger"  is  in  reality  only  loot  by  mob  violence  of  the  farm- 
ers' supplies  and  homes  to  sell  and  squander  in  excesses  and 
debauchery  in  cities.  Besides  a  ball  and  chain,  the  govern- 
ment would  need  a  soldier  with  a  shotgun  to  keep  each 
one  on  a  farm  and  at  work.  Why,  it's  impossible  to  keep 
most  of  that  kind  of  men  on  a  farm  more  than  a  week  in 
harvest  or  threshing  time,  though  they  be  paid  four  to  ten 
times  the  wages  the  farmer  himself  gets  out  of  his  crops. 

H^re  is  an  incident  reported  in  the  press  concerning  the 
present  Kansas  Legislature,  showing  that  men  with  experi- 
ence do  not  desire  to  return  to  the  farm  under  present  con- 
ditions : 

"During  the  debate  on  the  farm  tenantry  resolution  in  the  House  of 
Representatives  yesterday  one  very  loquacious  orator  sought  to  enlist 
all  of  the  farmer  members  on  his  side. 

"  'Every  member  of  the  House  who  was  raised  on  a  farm  please 
raise  his  hand/  he  pleaded. 

"All  of  the'members,  including  lawyers,  held  up  their  hands. 

"  'How  many  of  you  still  live  on  the  farm?'  he  next  asked. 

"About  half  of  the' members~raised  their  hands. 

"  'How  many  of  you  who  left  the  farm  want  to  go  back?" 

"  Not  a  hand  went'up. 

"  'The  farms  are  in  great  luck,'  he  drawled." 


ADVOCATE  AND  GUIDE.  149 

Some  Sensible  Remarks  by  Secretary  of  Agriculture. 

THE  AGRICULTURAL  DEPARTMENT  AND  THE  FARMER's  MARKET. 

''In  his  address  before  the  Trans-Mississippi  Congress,  at  Omaha, 
February  28,  1919,  Secretary  Houston  declared  that  'Hvestock  growers 
do  not  believe  there  is  an  adequately  free  market.' 

"If  the  interest  of  the  farmers  and  growers  of  livestock  is  analyzed 
it  will  be  found  that  it  focuses  on  markets, 

"This  is  significant  and  it  should  give  direction  to  the  thinking  at 
Washington  in  respect  to  what  the  Agricultural  Department  of  the  gov- 
ernment should  attempt  to  do  in  behalf  of  agriculture. 

"That  department  expends  annually  many  million  dollars,  ostensi- 
bly for  the  benefit  of  the  farm  industry.  Yet  the  farm  industry  is  not 
progressing  in  step  with  the  other  large  industries  of  the  United  States . 

"If  the  farmer  is  asked  as  to  what  he  wishes  this  great  department 
to  do  he  will  sum  it  up  in  marketing,  not  producing.  The  department 
issues  tons  of  pamphlets  and  documents  instructing  the  farmer  how  to 
raise  wheat  and  corn,  how  to  feed  hogs  and  cattle,  and  the  like.  This 
is  a  great  part  of  what  it  does  for  the  farmer.  It  supports  agricultural 
colleges,  and  these  also  tell  the  farmer  how  to  produce  and  how  to  feed, 
and  the  time  will  come,  at  the  rate  matters  are  going,  when  the  agri- 
cultural colleges  will  be  the  most  aristocratic  institutions  in  America, 
because  the  time  will  come  when  only  men  of  wealth  can  own  land. 

"The  average  farmer  throws  too  many  of  these  documents  in  the 
stove,  saying :  '  I  know  how  to  raise  corn  and  wheat  and  how  to  feed 
cattle  and  hogs.  I  can  attend  to  that  part  of  the  business,  if  you  will 
look  after  my  market.  What  is  the  use  of  my  putting  money,  brains 
and  muscle  into  my  work,  when,  after  I  have  finished  the  job,  the 
bottom  of  my  market  drops  out?' 

"There  are  those  who  have  market  knowledge,  but  they  obtain  this 
invaluable  thing  for  themselves,  at  their  own  expense,  and  it  is  ex- 
clusive property.  The  packers,  for  example,  receive  data  through  their 
own  facilities  from  every  part  of  the  globe.  This  their  experts  assemble 
and  relate  together  and  classify,  and  from  it  they  draw  certain  infer- 
ences. From  the  data  exclusively  in  their  possession  today  they  can 
see  the  market  for  hogs  or  cattle  in  February,  1920.  It  may  be  that 
the  data  gathered  by  them  show  that  in  February,  1920,  the  way 
matters  are  going,  there  will  be  an  increased  supply  of  hogs  to  such  a 
degree  that  it  will  be  excessive,  in  relation  to  their  facilities  to  handle 
it  at  maximum  profit  to  themselves. 

"In  such  a  case  the  packers  do  not  wait  for  1920.  They  drop  the 
price  at  once,  to  discourage  the  farmer,  who  does  not  know  what  has 
happened  to  his  industry.     He  has  built  his  hogs  on  conditions  in  1918 


150  FARMERS'  UNION  AND  FEDERATION 

and  early  1919,  but  his  price  suddenly  is  made  for  him  with  regard  to 
conditions  that  the  packers  foresee  for  1920.  The  sole  method  by 
which  he  is  now  turned  from  one  specialty  to  another  of  his  business 
is  by  being  pinched  out  of  his  profit. 

"A  great  grain  manipulator  acts  in  a  similarly  scientific  way.  He 
has  his  lines  out  for  information  from  every  quarter  of  the  globe  as  to 
oats,  or  corn,  or  wheat.  When  he  assembles  all  the  information  ob- 
tainable he  draws  his  inferences  as].to  what  must  be  true  next  July  or 
September,  and  he  buys  or  sells  accordingly,  sometimes  finding  condi- 
tions such  that  he  can  actually  corner  a  grain  product. 

"Mr.  Baruch,  whom  the  government  drafted  for  war  work  and  who 
thereupon  cut  all  his  lines  of  communication  with  Wall  Street,  is  often 
referred  to  as  a  stock  gambler.  What  Mr.  Baruch  is  in  fact  is  a  man 
of  scientific  methods  and  knowledge  regarding  certain  corporations  and 
their  properties.  He  assembles  the  data  regarding  them,  what  their 
capital  is  and  how  it  compares  with  their  assets,  whether  they  produce 
a  marketable  article,  what  its  future  is  likely  to  be,  whether  they  have 
been  distributing  their  earnings  in  dividends  or  putting  them  back, 
'plowing  them  in,'  extending  and  improving  their  plants.  When  he 
has  all  obtainable  data  assembled  he  draws  his  inferences  and  acts  ac- 
cordingly. It  is  not  surprising  that  he  is  a  successful  speculator  in 
stocks.  He  has  the  information  not  possessed  by  the  public  or  by  Wall 
Street's  'lambs.'     His  methods  are  scientific. 

"All  these  speculators  see  ahead,  on  information  exclusive  to  them 
and  obtained  by  them  at  their  own  expense. 

"Not  so  the  farmer.  Now,  what  the  farmer  should  get  from  the 
Agricultural  Department  in  a  market  bureau  is  just  such  data,  assembled 
from  all  parts  of  the  globe  by  the  department  specialists,  and  more  than 
that,  with  the  inferences  drawn.  Periodically  the  department  should 
give  out  its  data  and  its  inferences  therefrom  for  the  benefit  of  ^  the 
public,  data  more  exhaustive  than  that  of  the  packers  on  meat  products 
or  the  grain  speculator  on  grain.  The  department  market  bureau 
should  take  the  risk  of  making  market  predictions,  months  or  whole 
seasons  ahead,  just  as  it  takes  the  risk  today  of  making  weather  pre- 
dictions a  week  ahead.  It  may  occasionally  miss,  but  in  a  large  pre- 
ponderance of  predictions  it  will  hit  the  mark. 

"Such  a  prediction  was  made,  for  the  first  time,  so  far  as  we  know, 
the  other  day  by  Herbert  Hoover,  with  regard  to  the  present  conditions 
and  future  prospects  of  the  fats  market,  especially  with  regard  to  hogs. 
He  advised  American  farmers  to  discontinue  marketing  half-fattened 
hogs,  and  while  he  admitted  that  at  present  prices  the  farmer  cannot 
afford  to  continue  feeding,  yet  he  predicted  that  as  soon  as  peace  is 
signed  the  demand  for  fats  throughout  the  world  will  suddenly  leap 
forward  and  the  farmer  with  fats  for  sale  will  reap  a  rich  reward. 


ADVOCATE  AND  GUIDE.  151 

"The  government  at  Washington  need  not  advise  farmers,  but  it 
can  at  least  print  for  the  general  benefit  the  inferences  drawn  by  its 
experts  from  the  data  assembled.  It  can  make  knowledge  as  to  'fu- 
tures' public  instead  of  private,  and  universal  instead  of  exclusive. 
The  effect  of  such  a  work  in  behalf  of  the  farmer  will  be  to  stabilize 
the  industry  of  the  food  producer  as  it  never  has  been  stabilized  before, 
to  save  him  to  a  large  extent  from  sudden  and  violent  fluctuations  dis- 
turbing his  entire  program  and  forcing  him  suddenly  and  violently, 
and  at  serious  loss,  instead  of  permitting  him  gradually  and  long  enough 
in  advance,  to  diversify  and  vary  his  program,  from  cattle  to  sheep,  or 
from  sheep  to  hogs,  and  so  on. 

''It  is  in  reference  to  markets  that  the  Agricultural  Department's 
future  work  is  of  main  interest,  or  can  be  made  so,  to  the  practical 
farmer." 

Now,  this  aid,  information  and  advice  is  just  what  the 
farmers  need.  But  they  need  not  expect  the  government  to 
furnish  it,  because  the  government  is  now  controlled  jointly 
by  union  employers  and  union  labor,  both  of  which  want 
only  increased  farm  products  and  decreased  prices  for  them. 
So  it  is  up  to  the  producers  of  each  farm  product  to  unionize 
and  employ  an  executive  board  to  do  this  service  for  them. 

Packers  Control  Government  and  Exploit  Farmers . 

"The  large  packers  have  been  for  months  flooding  the  country  with 
misleading  advertising.  Their  primacy  in  the  packing  business  comes 
from  their  piracy  in  finance  and  criminal  methods  of  competition,  not 
from  efficiency  or  the  economic  soundness  of  their  methods  of  concen- 
tration, of  slaughter  and  distribution. 

"Their  assertion  of  'Small  cost  to  the  nation  for  services  rendered,' 
rests  upon  'camouflage,'  and  not  upon  demonstrated  or  demonstrable 
fact.  In  none  of  the  European  nations  is  there  as  great  waste  between 
farm  and  table  as  there  is  in  the  United  States. 

"If  we  are  to  continue  a  meat-eating  nation,  the  concentration  of 
the  live  stock  of  the  nation  in  a  few  packer  controlled  markets  must 
cease.  The  following  are  some  of  the  facts  to  which  they  do  not  give 
publicity :  They  divide  among  themselves  the  live  stock  of  the  nation 
on  the  following  per  cent  basis  :  Armour,  292.66 ;  Swift,  357.51 ;  Mor- 
ris, 149.83;  Wilson,  100.00;  Cudahy,  100.00;  Total,  1,000.00. 


152  FARMERS'  UNION  AND  FEDERATION 

"They  prorate  the  funds  used  in  debauching  congressional  com- 
mittees and  other  governmental  agencies  on  the  same  basis.  While 
many  were  aware  that  these  things  were  being  done  by  the  packers, 
these  facts  have  never  been  brought  to  the  knowledge  of  the  whole 
people,  as  it  has  been  done  by  the  public  hearings  of  the  Federal  Trades 
Commission  in  the  investigation  conducted  by  Francis  J.  Heney. 

"If  the  packers  are  the  beneficent  agencies  that  their  advertising 
asserts,  why  should  they  have  made  the  fight  that  they  did  make  to 
prevent  the  facts  from  being  made  public  by  a  national  governmental 
agency?  Why  should  they  have  broken  their  agreement  of  December 
6,  1916,  made  by  them  with  the  Market  Committee  of  the  American 
Live  Stock  Association,  to  wit : 

"To  withdraw  their  opposition  to  an  investigation  by  the  Federal 
Trades  Commission,  of  the  packing  industry.  Subsequent  to  the  agree- 
ment with  the  Market  Commission,  they  defeated  the  efforts  of  the 
producers  to  have  a  resolution  passed  by  Congress  appropriating  funds 
with  which  to  make  the  investigation.  The  appropriation  was  secured 
only  after  President  Wilson  had  ordered  the  Federal  Trades  Commis- 
sion to  make  the  investigation  and  in  spite  of  the  continued  opposition 
of  the  packers. 

"The  last  of  July,  1917,  Mr.  Hoover  stated  to  me  that :  'The  Chi- 
cago packers  had  not  only  a  national  reputation,  but  an  international 
reputation  that  smelt  to  heaven.  I  would  not  invite  one  of  the  large 
packers  to  a  seat  at  my  council  table.' 

"Within  thirty  days  from  the  time  of  making  this  statement,  the 
packers  and  their  allied  interests  were  in  charge  of  the  Food  Adminis- 
tration. Within  four  months,  Mr.  Hoover's  appointees  were  telling 
the  producers  that,  'The  high  cost  of  living  did  not  permit  them  to 
make  a  profit  on  this  year's  finished  live  stock ;  that  they  must  remem- 
ber the  consumer  and  make  up  their  minds  to  patriotically  practice 
self-denial.' 

"Under  the  terms  of  the  packers'  license,  as  made  by  the  Food 
Administration,  the  packers  are  permitted  to  have  a  profit  on  capital 
owned  of  from  thirteen  to  nineteen  per  cent.  It  is  true  that  the  pack- 
ers may  be  foregoing  some  measure  of  their  accustomed  profit,  but  the 
producer  is  unable  to  realize  how  the  rate  of  profit  mentioned  calls  for 
any  practice  of  self-denial  on  the  part  of  the  packer.  You  cannot  har- 
monize with  the  rattlesnake.     It  is  either  kill  or  be  killed. 

"Recent  occurrences  have  proven  that  the  packers  and  their  allies, 
the  house  of  Morgan,  the  Rockefellers,  are  actuated  by  the  same  prin- 
ciples that  move  the  Hohenzollerns  and  Hapsburgs  of  Europe ;  the  one 


ADVOCATE  AND  GUIDE.  153 

would  deprive  humanity  of  its  political  freedom,  the  other  of  its  indus- 
trial or  economic  freedom.  We  must  preserve  both.  We  can  preserve 
neither  unless  the  national  government  eliminates  exploitation  from 
the  conduct  of  the  affairs  of  the  nation. 

"The  first  step  demanded  to  stop  this  evil  is  for  the  national  gov- 
ernment to  take  charge  of  the  five  large  packers.  To  win  this  war,  we 
must  make  our  food  supply  secure.  No  nation  can  be  induced  to  pro- 
duce to  the  limit  for  the  benefit  of  five  families,  even  though  the  five 
be  the  Armours,  Swifts,  Morrises,  Wilsons  and  Cudahys.  To  feed  our 
Alhes  and  ourselves,  maximum  production  is  essential.  Prove  that  as 
a  nation  we  deserve  to  exist  by  making  '  ours  a  government  of,  for  and 
by  the  people.'  " 

Ed  C.  Lasater. 

Mr.  Lasater  is  a  big  farmer  and  rancher  of  Brooks  County, 
Texas,  but  he  should  know  from  observation  and  experience 
that  the  government  can  do  nothing  to  relieve  the  farmers 
from  the  grip  of  their  oppressors  while  those  same  oppressors 
control  the  government.  He  should  also  know  that  by 
unionizing  and  voting  as  a  unit  for  all  government  officials 
of  their  own  choosing  the  millions  of  farmers  have  the  vot- 
ing power  to  take  over  the  control  of  government  to  them- 
selves, and  then  through  its  power  correct  the  evils  com- 
plained of. 

The  key  to  the  situation  is  to  unionize  and  seize  control 
of  the  government  through  the  ballot,  and  good  wages  and 
overhead  expenses  through  the  minimum  price  system.  Will 
you  dissatisfied  farmers  use  the. key  at  your  hand  to  unlock 
to  you  this  great  source  of  power  and  wealth? 

Money  in  Unionizing. 

The  first  question  in  the  minds  of  all  wheat  growers  when 
asked  to' join  the  wheat  growers'  union  will  be,  "What's  in  it 
for  me?  What  do  I  get  for  my  membership  fee  and  dues? 
I'm  from  Missouri  and  must  be  shown." 

Well,  here's  what's  in  it  for  all  wheat  growers,  and  you 
can  figure  out  your  portion  by  multiplying  the  increased 
price  on  one  bushel  by  the  number  of  bushels  you  sell  an- 


154  FARMERS'  UNION  AND  FEDERATION 

nually,  and  that  product  by  the  number  of  years  you  will 
raise  wheat.  Unless  wheat  growers  unionize  to  adopt  and 
enforce  the  minimum  price  system  based  on  cost  of  produc- 
tion, the  big  wheat  speculators  will  set  a  minimum  price 
themselves  on  wheat  at  about  fifty  cents  a  bushel  at  the 
farmers'  delivery  time,  and  a  maximum  price  of  all  they  can 
get  for  it  when  in  their  own  possession,  which  would  probably 
be  around  eighty  cents  a  bushel.  I  have  shown  that  the 
average  cost  of  producing  wheat  is  $2.50  a  bushel,  which 
should  be  the  union's  minimum  price  at  the  beginning  of 
the  threshing  season,  with  a  monthly  increase  of  two  and  a 
half  cents  a  bushel  for  carrying  charge,  which  would  make 
the  maximum  price  during  the  year  $2.80  a  bushel.  Now 
this  is  just  $2.00  a  bushel  for  unionizing.  Any  wheat  grower 
can  easily  see  what  is  in  it  for  him.  Any  township,  county 
and  state  can  easily  estimate  the  increased  flow  of  money  to 
it.  Villages,  towns  and  cities  will  have  their  patronage  from 
wheat  growers  increased  five-fold.  Merchants,  laborers,  me- 
chanics and  professional  people  will  have  their  business  with 
wheat  growers  multiplied  by  five.  Manufacturers  of  the 
thousands  of  articles  needed  by  wheat  growers  and  their 
families  will  get  five  times  the  business  from  them,  and  that 
will  furnish  union  city  labor  five  times  the  labor  needed  to 
produce  them.  It  is  thus  seen  how  all  classes  except  the 
gamblers  and  profiteerers  in,wheat  would  be  benefited  through- 
the  wheat  growers  unionizing  to  inaugurate  the  minimum 
price  system.  Two  dollars  on  our  800,000,000-bushel  wheat 
crop  would  keep  in  circulation  $1,600,000,000  and  side-track 
the  financial  and  industrial  panic  that  is  bound  to  come  with 
fifty-cent  wheat. 

Cost  of  Raising  Wheat  in  Kansas. 

One  of  the  most  necessary  duties  of  farm  organizations  is 
to  teach  farmers  what  to  figure  in  as  cost  of  products  and  the 
price  of  each  element  in  their  production.     So  much  de- 


ADVOCATE  AND  GUIDE.  155 

pends  on  the  yield  that  a  ten-year  average  should  be  taken 
as  a  basis  of  production.  The  good  yields  must  not  only 
pay  for  their  own  production,  but  also  for  the  labor  and  ex- 
pense of  the  poor  yields  and  total  failures. 

In  all  itemized  cost  accounts  by  crop  experts  and  agri- 
cultural colleges  I  have  seen,  the  wages  of  the  farmer  has 
been  set  far  too  low,  while  some  of  the  biggest  cost  items  and 
many  of  the  smaller  ones  were  omitted  entirely.  In  the 
Ottawa  Herald  is  an  itemized  cost  of  wheat  crop  by  Mr. 
J.  M.  Conard,  of  Ottawa,  Kansas,  that  I  believe  is  a  fairly 
good  average  of  what  should  be  included  and  the  cost  of 
each  item : 

"What  is  the  average  cost  per  acre  for  growing  wheat?  And  does 
the  average  farm  break  even  or  make  money  on  the  various  farm  ac- 
tivities? 

"Farm  accounting  has  been  discussed  a  great  deal  in  recent  years, 
and  just  now  is  strongly  urged.  Some  farmers,  it  is  claimed,  lose  what 
they  make  in  some  lines  by  leaks  or  overhead  expenses  in  others. 

"J.  M.  Conard,  one  of  the  enterprising  farmers  of  Frankhn  County, 
has  figured  out  costs  for  some  time.  Recently  he  prepared  a  statement 
of  the  costs  per  acre  of  growing  wheat.  His  figures  are  based  on  the 
1918  harvest  of  the  1917  sowing  and  the  sowing  of  the  new  crop  in  the 
fall  of  1918.  In  it  he  has  figured  all  items  of  sowing  and  harvesting  and 
has  put  in  those  items  of  overhead  expense  that  are  frequently  over- 
looked. He  even  charged  a  percentage  of  insurance,  taxes  and  the  like 
to  the  wheat  crop. 

"Mr.  Conard's  estimate  is  that  wheat  cost  $27.68  per  acre  during 
the  last  season,  and  that  to  make  a  profit  a  large  yield  was  necessary. 
A  15-bushel  production  per  acre  would  allow  a  farmer  to  break  even, 
he  said.  His  estimates  are  based  upon  the  crop  grown  on  140  acres 
sown  in  1917  and  harvested  in  1918,  averaging  30  pushels  per  acre,  and 
followed  by  a  crop  of  200  acres  sown  in  the  fall  of  1918. 

"Mr.  Conard  prepared  an  article  on  his  estimates,  and  this  was  dis- 
tributed locally  through  the  farm  bureau.     The  article  follows  : 

"  'In  undertaking  to  arrive  at  or  near  the  exact  cost  of  producing 
wheat,  I  have  followed  closely  the  plan  laid  down  by  Prof.  W.  E 
Grimes,  speciahst  in  farm  management  of  the  Kansas  State  Agricultural 
College.  In  his  investigation  of  the  wheat  industry  of  Sumner  County 
it  was  found  that  the  yield  was  17.84  bushels  to  the  acre,  and  the  cost 
of  producing  and  placing  same  on  the  market  was  $1.70  per  bushel.  In 
that  county  they  found  on  farms  yielding  but  nine  bushels  to  the  acre 


156  FARMERS'  UNION  AND  FEDERATION 

that  the  cost  of  the  wheat  was  $3.53,  and  on  the  best  farm  in  the  county, 
$1.28,  all  depending  upon  the  yield  and  price  received.  Considering 
the  whole  State,  the  average  wheat  yield  of  Kansas  does  not  return  a 
profit. 

"  'I  have  at  hand  the  larger  items  of  expense  entering  into  the  har- 
vesting of  the  1917  crop,  also  a  very  accurate  account  of  all  costs  in- 
curred in  sowing  the  fall  (1918)  crop.  By  putting  the  two  items  to- 
gether we  have  a  very  accurate  estimate  of  wheat  production  ever  ex- 
perienced in  this  county,  as  to  weather,  yield  and  prices.  Our  profits 
here  are  due  to  a  big  yield.  I  understand  it  to  average  23  bushels  to 
the  acre  for  the  county.  Under  the  prevailing  conditions  a  15-bushel 
yield  to  the  acre  would  allow  us  to  break  even.' 

"Here  are  Mr.  Conard's  figures  on  the  basis  of  a  single  acre : 

1917  Crop  Harvested  in  1918. 

Harvesting $2 .  00 

Shocking , 75 

Twine 75 

Threshing 4.60 

Hauling  grain  to  market .    1 .  00 

Sowing  New  Crop  {Fall  1918). 

Plowing $2. 50 

Disking,  4  horses,  twice 1 .  25 

Harrowing  twice,  4  horses,  man  riding  harrow 1 .  20 

Rolling,  double  roller,  once  over 40 

Seeding 60 

Seed 2.81 

Rent 6.50 

Use  of  machinery 53 

Interest  figured  on  cost  of  seed-bed  preparation  and  seed,  ten 

months 80 

Overhead  Expenses. 

Insurance $0 .  25 

Use  of  buildings 30 

Fertilizer 20 

Storage  and  cleaning  grain 10 

Interest  on  implements  and  harness  while  idle 37 

Repairs  on  implements 03 

Upkeep  of  fences 11 

Taxes 40 

Feed  of  teams  while  idle 20 

Oils  and  grease 03 

Total  cost  per  acre $27.68 

Other  Items  to  he  Charged. 

"Continuing  his  deductions,  Mr.  Conard  said  : 

"  'There  are  many  other  minor  items  of  expense  that  enter  into  the 
cost  of  producing  a  crop  of  wheat  which  I  have  not  tried  to  figure  out . 
They  should  be  taken  in  the  same  ratio  as  the  wheat  crop  is  to  the 
whole  farm.     They  are :    Veterinary  bills,  shoeing  of  horses,  cripphng 


ADVOCATE  AND  GUIDE.  157 

or  death  of  horses,  breeding  and  raising  of  work  teams,  accidents, 
breaking  up  of  implements  and  tools,  repairing  and  oiling  of  harness, 
new  fly  nets  about  every  year,  draining  of  water  off  wheat  fields,  hunt- 
ing up  help  and  going  after  and  taking  the  same  home. 

"  'The  taxes  upon  your  improvements,  now  that  they  are  taxed, 
must  in  part,  fall  upon  the  wheat  crop.  A  part  of  your  income  tax 
can  be  blamed  to  your  wheat  crop  and  charged  in  as  an  expense  against 
it.  I  will  venture  to  guess  that  when  all  items  of  expense  are  accounted 
for  it  will  be  found  that  wheat  in  this  county  has  cost  the  farmers  about 
$30  per  acre  to  sow  in  1917  and  harvest  in  1918. 

"  'These  items  are  based  upon  a  crop  of  140  acres  sown  in  1917 
and  harvested  in  1918,  averaging  30  bushels  per  acre,  and  followed  by 
a  crop  of  200  acres  sown  in  1918.  The  item  of  board  and  lodging  has 
entered  into  the  figures  of  the  different  items.'  " 

You  will  note  that  having  30  bushels  to  the  acre  it  was 
produced  for  $1  a  bushel.  But  as  a  ten-year  average,  from 
1906  to  1915  inclusive,  the  United  States  produced  only  15 
bushels  per  acre;  that  should  be  the  basis  of  computation 
minus  a  still  lower  yield  to  cover  the  uncut  acreage  sown  but 
lost,  which  would  probably  cut  it  down  to  12  bushels  per 
acre,  as  the  15-bushel  yield  includes  only  the  acreage  har- 
vested. That  would  make  his  wheat  cost  $2.50  a  bushel  in 
labor  and  overhead  expense.  That  is  the  price  he  should 
have  had.  But  when  the  government  guaranteed  price  ex- 
pires June  1st,  1920,  and  the  board  of  trade  gamblers  sell 
the  price  down  to  75  cents  or  less,  what  will  or  can  wheat 
growers  do  about  it?  Well,  of  course,  they  can  do  nothing 
except  to  take  it  for  wheat  that  cost  them  $2.50,  if  they 
refuse  to  unionize  to  adopt  and  enforce  the  minimum  price 
system.     Now 

''There,  there!  I'm  converted  to  the  unionizing  idea. 
You  needn't  give  any  more  proof  of  its  necessity  and  desira- 
bility. By  heck,  Fll  join  it  at  the  first  opportunity  if  it 
costs  a  hundred  dollars.  But  I  have  a  few  questions  written 
down  that  occurred>  to  me  as  you  went  along  in  your  argu- 
ment that  I  would  like  answered,  but  was  afraid  to  ask  them 
because  you  were  so  cranky." 


168  FARMERS'  UNION  AND  FEDERATION 

All  right,  Mr.  Wiseman ;  fire  when  you  are  ready.  I 
am  so  glad  you  could  comprehend  the  helpless  condition  of 
farmers  while  unorganized  and  their  great  power,  influence 
and  advantage  by  unionizing  that  I  have  changed  your 
name  to  Wiseman  as  a  more  befitting  one. 

Twenty  Questions  Answered. 

Now,  Mr.  Wiseman,  please  give  me  your  list  of  questions 
and  I  shall  write  them  down  and  answer  each  under  a  cor- 
responding number. 

''Well,  here  is  the  list  of  questions  I  am  sure  some  wheat 
growers  would  like  information  on  before  joining  the  union. 
How  would  it  handle  these  cases? 

''1.  Wheat  growers  vrho  would  not  join  the  union? 

"2.  Big  farmers  who  might  undersell  the  minimum  price? 

''3.  Surplus  of  a  bumper  crop  not  taken  at  the  price? 

"4.  If  too  many  engage  in  producing  wheat? 

"5.  In  case  wheat  is  boycotted  by  the  consumers? 

''6.  If  foreigners  should  undersell  the  minimum  price? 

"7.  If  the  union  should  be  declared  in  violation  of  anti- 
trust laws? 

''8.  Were  farmers  to  complain  of  high  prices  of  flour? 

"9.  In  case  of  a  non-delivery  strike,  what  of  the  needy 
grower? 

"10.  How  and  by  whom  is  the  minimum  price  to  be  de- 
termined? 

"11.  How  will  the  union  be  financed? 

"12.  Suppose  the  government  should  continue  pricing 
wheat? 

"13.  If  the  price  of  wheat  is  lowered,  will  not  other  prices 
tumble? 

"  14.  How  will  the  union  enforce  its  mandates  on  its  mem- 
bers? 

"15.  Could  not  union  officials  sell  out  and  betray  the 
union? 


ADVOCATE  AND  GUIDE.  159' 

**16.  What  if  union  labor,  employers  and  millers  import 
wheat? 

''17.  What  of  the  poor  people  in  cities  unable  to  pay  for 
bread? 

''18.  Suppose  foreign  governments  refuse  our  surplus 
wheat? 

"19.  Would  not  farmers  quit  other  crops  for  wheat  rais- 
ing? 

"20.  Would  not  people  abandon  flour  for  cheaper  sub- 
stitutes?" 

I  have  previously  suggested  answers  to  many  of  these 
questions  but  shall  do  it  again  specifically  and  more  con- 
densed. However,  all  these  questions  and  scores  of  others 
will  be  settled  as  they  come  up  by  the  union  officials  in  their 
own  way  as  part  of  their  official  duties.  All  I  can  do  now 
is  to  merely  suggest  things  that  might  be  considered  by  them. 
The  national  executive  committee  of  the  wheat  growers' 
union  could  be  composed  of  one  member  from  each  State 
having  over  a  million  acres  in  wheat.  That  would  give  it 
fifteen  members,  and  it  could  appoint  a  sub-committee  of 
one  or  more  of  its  members  to  investigate  each  subject  as 
they  come  up  and  report  their  findings  and  recommendations 
to  the  full  committee  for  action.  We  can't  cross  bridges 
before  we  come  to  them.  The  time  and  circumstances  must 
determine  the  course  of  action  : 

1.  A  committee  on  slackers  would  see  those  who  expect 
benefits  without  contributing  aid,  and  use  such  argument  as 
each  case  requires.  A  present  of  this  book  with  instructions 
to  read  it  and  report  to  the  membership  committee  in  a 
week  would  find  them  there  on  time  to  apply  for  member- 
ship in  the  union. 

2.  Big  wheat  raisers  would  want  as  good  wages  and  over- 
head expenses  as  the  smaller  ones.  But  should  they  through 
superior  producing  advantages  undersell  the  fixed  minimum, 


160  FARMERS'  UNION  AND  FEDERATION 

they  could  be  controlled  by  a  proposed  law  to  limit  the 
number  of  acres  one  man  could  hold  or  farm  to  any  one 
crop.  The  union  could  if  necessary  obligate  their  members 
to  observe  a  certain  limit. 

3.  Wheat  being  a  good  keeper  if  put  in  a  good  granary 
in  good  condition,  the  surplus  from  big  crops  could  be  and 
should  be  carried  over  to  the  poor  crop  years  as  an  insurance 
against  famine,  and  consumers  should  pay  the  interest  and 
storage  on  it  for  their  protection.  A  per  cent  of  production 
of  big  producers  over  a  certain  amount  could  be  required 
held  in  reserve  by  the  union,  or  held  in  terminal  elevators, 
which  the  union  should  own,  either  by  the  union  itself  or  by 
foreign  importing  governments  or  by  our  own  government. 

■  4.  If  from  any  cause  too  large  a  surplus  of  wheat  ac- 
cumulates, the  national  control  board  of  the  executive  com- 
mittee could  order  a  certain  per  cent  reduction  in  acreage 
sown  over  a  certain  amount  allowed  each  member. 

5.  It  is  not  likely  consumers  would  deny  the  producers 
of  their  favorite  bread  cereal  skilled  labor  wages  and  over- 
head expenses  while  producing  it,  and  that  is  all  the  price 
asked  for  it.  But  should  it  be  boycotted,  the  union  officials 
should  convince  the  public  by  figures  that  don't  lie  that  the 
price  is  not  unreasonable,  that  the  growers  need  the  money 
to  buy  necessary  supplies  with.  Most  consumers  are  better 
satisfied  if  good  prices  go  to  the  producers  of  an  article  than 
to  speculators  and  profiteerers  in  it. 

6.  The  minimum  price  to  producers  fixed  by  our  national 
union  would  probably  be  adopted  by  wheat  raisers  in  all 
exporting  countries.  Our  national  union  would  send  or- 
ganizers to  all  such  countries  to  unionize  the  wheat  producers, 
and  the  minimum  price  fixed  here  would  likely  be  in  agree- 
ment with  such  unions.  Also  an  agreement  might  be  made 
to  not  sell  wheat  for  export  to  any  country  having  wheat  to 
export. 


ADVOCATE  AND  GUIDE.  161 

7.  Since  many  other  classes  of  laborers,  professions  and 
producers  do  agree  collectively  on  uniform  wages  and  prices 
for  their  services  and  products,  it  is  not  likely  the  wheat 
growers  would  be  singled  out  as  a  class  to  be  denied  that 
privilege.  But  should  they  be  denied,  it  of  course  would 
be  fought  through  to  the  highest  courts  by  the  union ;  and 
if  denied  there,  the  union  would  see  to  it  that  the  law  was 
amended  to  exempt  farmers  who  collectively  fixed  their  in- 
direct wages. 

8.  The  union  would  see  to  it  that  the  milling  trust  did 
not  profiteer  in  wheat  products  and  then  blame  it  on  the 
union,  nor  would  the  boards  of  trade  be  allowed  to  gamble 
in  wheat  or  its  products. 

9.  The  wheat  being  a  good  collateral  when  the  price  is 
assured,  any  grower  could  borrow  on  it  near  the  minimum 
price. 

10.  I  have  in  answer  to  No.  6  suggested  how  the  price 
could  be  set.  The  national  executive  committee  could  ap- 
point from  its  membership  a  sub-committee  on  wheat  sta- 
tistics to  gather  and  summarize  the  cost  of  producing  wheat 
in  all  parts  of  the  United  States,  its  general  condition,  supply 
and  demand  throughout  the  world,  and  from  this  informa- 
tion, in  agreement  with  the  wheat  growers'  union  of  other 
exporting  nations,  determine  the  minimum  price  at  least  a 
year  ahead  so  that  producers  would,  know  before  they  did 
the  work  what  wages  they  were  to  get  for  it.  In  certain 
cases  it  might  be  left  to  a  vote  of  the  union  members. 

11.  A  membership  fee,  say  of  ten  dollars  and  monthly 
dues  of  one  dollar  per  member,  should  provide  ordinary 
running  expenses  for  a  very  efficient  organization  including 
the  township,  county,  state  and  national  officers'  salaries, 
and  equipment  of  necessary  offices.  Were  any  special  funds 
to  be  raised  for  the  purchase  or  building  of  local  or  terminal 
elevators,  or  for  other  purposes  a  graduated  assessment  on 
production  over  a  certain  amount  could  be  provided  for. 


162  FARMERS'  UNION  AND  FEDERATION. 

12.  The  government  will  leave  the  wheat  growers  to  the 
mercy  of  profiteers  and  gamblers  after  June  1,  1920,  and  they 
will  sell  the  price  down  to  probably  60  cents,  as  they  did  in 
1914  when  the  growers  have  a  crop  ready  for  market.  Wheat 
raisers  have  until  then  to  unionize  and  prepare  to  take  over 
the  pricing  of  their  wheat,  and  they  have  no  time  to  waste. 
But  should  the  government  continue  pricing  the  wheat  it 
would  still  be  necessary  to  unionize  to  have  competent  and 
authorized  representatives  to  inform  the  government  what 
the  price  should  be  and  to  insist  on  it  being  adopted. 

13.  Prices  of  nothing,  except  some  other  farm  products, 
would  follow  wheat  down.  Union  labor  has  declared  it  will 
not  allow  their  wages  lowered  regardless  of  lower  prices  on 
anything  else.  Mr.  Hoover  has  stated  that  to  reduce  flour 
prices  fifty  per  cent  would  not  cause  more  than  one  or  two 
cents  reduction  in  the  price  of  a  pound  loaf  of  bread.  Here 
is  a  couple  of  excerpts  from  Mr.  Hoover's  statement  dated 
at  Paris,  March  10,  1919 : 

"The  needs  of  Europe  are  larger  than  our  previous  estimates.  Alto- 
gether the  balance  of  the  supply  and  demand  for  our  present  wheat 
now  looks  as  though  we  might  see  wheat  at  $3.50  a  bushel  as  it  was  in 
the  spring  of  1917,  if  there  is  a  free  market  in  wheat  and  uncontrolled 
prices  for  the  1918  crop.  There  can  be  no  free  market  of  ninety  per 
cent  of  the  world's  exports.  Wheat  is  controlled  by  the  wheat  ex- 
ecutive in  London. 

"Therefore  to  all  present  appearances  it  should  be  possible  to  market 
the  whole  of  next  year's  crop  without  loss  to  the  government. 

"As  to  whether  the  government  will  deliberately  take  a  loss  below 
the  price  of  $2.25  a  bushel  in  order  to  lower  the  price  of  bread  is  a  mat- 
ter that  will  have  to  be  determined  by  the  officials  of  the  day.  It 
appears  to  me  that  the  world  price  of  wheat,  if  there  is  a  free  market, 
may  be  above  $2.25,  and  in  any  event,  such  a  loss  would  be  a  direct 
subtraction  from  bread  prices  just  as  it  is  paid  now  in  European  coun- 
tries. 

"There  are  very  great  technical  difficulties  in  the  way  of  such  pro- 
cedure in  the  United  States.  Furthermore  it  would,  I  believe,  be  proved 
upon  investigation  that  to  lower  the  price  of  flour  by  fifty  per  cent 


ADVOCATE  AND  GUIDE.  163 

would  only  reduce  the  price  of  a  one  pound  loaf  from  nine  or  ten  cents, 
as  at  present,  to  seven  or  eight  cents  because  too  large  a  proportion  of 
the  increased  cost  of  a  loaf  since  the  war  is  due  to  higher  wages,  man- 
ufacturing cost  and  the  cost  of  other  suppUes." 

So  this  ''wheat  executive  in  London"  prevents  the  price 
of  our  wheat  going  to  $3.50  a  bushel  which  it  would  do  were 
the  law  of  supply  and  demand  allowed  to  rule  prices.  We 
have  all  been  taught  the  falsehood  that  this  law  was  the  su- 
preme price  ruler.  But  we  see  here  how  it  can  be  repealed 
or  annulled  by  a  made-to-order  arbitrary  price.  As  England 
is  a  wheat-importing  country,  and  as  most  of  our  surplus 
wheat  goes  there,  and  as  the  price  of  that  surplus,  no  matter 
how  small,  rules  to  a  great  extent  the  price  of  our  entire 
crop,  oiu"  union  should  have  a  representative  in  London  to 
deal  for  us  collectively  with  that  ''wheat  executive"  for  our 
surplus  wheat,  and  if  it  will  not  pay  the  price  demanded , 
then  try  other  importing  countries.  Why  should  we  be  for- 
ever unrepresented  in  the  most  vital  deal  of  our  business — 
that  of  pricing  our  product,  and  indirectly  our  wages?  I 
have  contended  all  along  that  the  high  or  low  price  of  wheat 
makes  very  little  difference  in  the  total  cost  of  living,  but 
it  makes  a  huge  difference  in  the  wages  of  the  grower.  If 
to  cut  the  price  of  wheat  in  two  to  allow  a  like  cut  in  flour 
only  makes  a  cent  or  two  difference  in  a  pound  of  bread  it 
amounts  to  almost  nothing  in  the  cost  of  living,  and  there- 
fore nothing  would  decline  that  the  wheat  grower  buys  were 
the  price  of  wheat  reduced  one-half. 

14.  The  union's  constitution  and  by-laws  will  provide 
for  fines  as  other  societies  do  for  violation  of  its  laws.  It 
could  also  deny  the  right  to  vote  or  hold  office  to  offenders. 

15.  Only  members  known  to  be  trustworthy,  tried,  re- 
sponsible and  loyal  to  the  union  would  be  given  important 
places  of  trust.  The  recall  of  all  officials  would  be  provided 
for  in  the  union's  law.  Books  would  be  audited  by  disin- 
terested persons  and  statements  made  to  the  membership 
through  the  daily  wheat  bulletin  at  regular  intervals. 


164  FARMERS'  UNION  AND  FEDERA TION 

16.  The  national  wheat  growers'  union  would  seek  to 
unionize  the  wheat  raisers  in  all  wheat  exporting  countries 
and  with  their  national  executives  form  an  international 
wheat  growers'  union.  This  body  would  seek  to  make  the 
minimum  price  uniform  so  far  as  possible  and  practical,  and 
probably  divide  the  needs  of  importing  countries  among 
the  exporting  countries,  supplying  those  nearest  them  and 
agreeing  to  not  ship  to  each  other's  territory,  especially  if  a 
strike  or  boycott  is  on.  This  international  executive  com- 
mission would  be  composed  of  delegates  from  each  of  the 
national  executive  committees  and  be  authorized  to  deal 
with  the  "wheat  executive"  of  importing  countries  collect- 
ively. Since  the  needs  of  importing  countries  are  pooled  and 
bought  through  a  single  agency,  there  is  no  competition  in 
the  buying,  and  the  need  of  exporting  countries  pooling  their 
wheat  and  selling  through  an  international  agency  is  impera- 
tive if  fair  prices  are  to  be  had. 

17.  As  shown,  the  high  or  low  price  of  wheat  cuts  little 
difference  in  the  price  of  bread  in  cities.  With  a  low  price 
the  wheat  raisers  would  be  unable  to  do  anything  for  them, 
but  with  a  high  price  they  could  help  them  in  several  ways 
by  giving  some  of  them  work  on  the  farm,  and  others  work 
in  the  factories,  supplying  things  needed  on  the  farms. 

18.  As  explained  in  No.  16,  it  is  contemplated  that  an 
international  wheat  growers'  union  would  be  organized  as 
soon  as  we  take  the  lead.  Then  wheat  prices  the  world 
over  would  be  virtually  uniform  and  stabilized.  Then  there 
would  be  no  object  in  boycotting  any  member  nation.  If 
this  unionizing  of  wheat  growers  is  not  done,  then  the  in- 
ternational buying  syndicate  will  play  one  selling  nation 
against  another  to  beat  down  the  price.  Their  agents  will 
work  through  the  board  of  trade  in  surplus  wheat  countries 
to  sell  the  price  down  and  buy  at  the  lowest  possible  point, 
first  in  one  country  then  in  another.     But  should  the  time 


ADVOCATE  AND  GUIDE.  165 

ever  come  when  we  could  not  sell  all  our  wheat  at  the  fixed 
minimum  price,  rather  than  lower  it  the  national  executive 
could  order  a  per  cent  of  it  fed  to  stock  on  the  farm  if  the 
surplus  is  too  much  to  carry  in  reserve. 

19.  It  is  contemplated  that  all  farm  products  will  sepa- 
rately unionize  and  adopt  the  minimum  price  system  as  soon 
as  wheat  is  unionized.  Their  minimum  price  will  cover  the 
same  rate  of  wages  and  class  of  overhead  expenses.  Then 
there  would  be  no  object  in  quitting  them  for  wheat.  All 
these  crop  unions  would  then  organize  a  national  federation, 
and  its  crop  equalization  board  would  advise  the  unions  on 
increasing  or  decreasing  each  product  in  order  to  stabilize 
production  and  prices. 

20.  The  foregoing  plan  would  tend  to  keep  prices  of  the 
various  products  equalized  so  there  would  be  no  advantage 
in  prices  of  any  over  others.  Consumers  would  not  object  to 
the  price  of  wheat  when  it  covers  only  skilled  labor  wages  and 
overhead  expenses  as  no  profits  whatever  are  to  be  added. 

Mr.  Wiseman  is  a  Convert  to  Unionism. 

''Well,  those  answers  are  as  satisfactory  as  they  can  be 
made  in  advance.  I  see  that  all  questions  can  be  met  by 
the  union  as  they  arise,  that  will  be  part  of  its  officials' 
duties.  I  am  a  thorough  convert  to  the  minimum  price  sys- 
tem. I  don't  see  why  it  wasn't  thought  of  long  ago,  and  all 
farm  products  unionized  to  adopt  it.  I  have  always  wished 
the  farmers  could  have  something  to  say  in  pricing  their 
products,  and  this  plan  fills  the  bill.  Can  you  suggest  a 
method  or  plan  for  unionizing  the  wheat  growers?" 

No,  I  cannot  do  that.  No  one  could  unionize  them  by 
any  plan.  They  must  unionize  themselves  if  it  is  ever  done. 
But  I  can  suggest  a  tentative  outline  of  a  plan  for  them  to 
follow  which  they  can  amend  to  suit  themselves  when  they 
become  members,  or  adopt  some  other  plan  by  electing  a 
commission  from  their  own  membership  to  write  a  constitu- 


166  FARMERS'  UNION  AND  FEDERATION 

tion  and  by-laws  for  the  union  to  adopt  by  a  referendum 
vote  of  its  entire  membership.  My  plan  will  do  as  a  tem- 
porary form  to  unite  in  membership  on,  then,  of  course,  they 
will  take  charge  of  their  own  union  and  make  such  changes 
in  its  organic  laws  and  officers'  duties  as  they  deem  best. 

"Well,  let's  have  it  quick  and  short,  as  I  am  rarin'  to  go 
to  the  unionizing  meeting  to  apply  for  membership. 

General  Guiding  Principles  for  Unionizing. 

Well,  Mr.  Wiseman,  1  shall  just  give  a  few  principles  as 
a  general  guide  to  unionizing : 

1.  It  should  be  planned  so  everyone  above  18  years  of 
age  of  both  sexes  who  raise  wheat  to  sell,  or  who  derives 
his  greatest  income  from  land  rented  for  wheat,  can  be  mem- 
bers of  the  wheat  growers'  union. 

2.  The  union  should  not  be  a  secret,  rituahstic  or  social 
affair,  but  strictly  a  business  organization  for  the  one  main 
purpose  of  so  controlling  the  price  of  wheat  through  its  own 
elected  officials  by  the  minimum  price  system  as  to  cover 
skilled  labor  wages  and  overhead  expenses  in  producing  it, 
and  for  the  secondary  purposes  of  collectively  buying  wheat 
farming  implements,  twine  and  other  supplies,  securing  extra 
labor  for  harvesting  and  threshing  at  uniform  wages,  and 
for  other  business  of  mutual  interest  to  wheat  producers. 

3.  The  unit  of  organization  should  be  the  township  in 
all  localities  where  wheat  is  the  principal  cereal  crop,  and 
the  county  where  thinly  inhabited,  or  but  comparatively 
little  wheat  is  raised,  or  district  union  composed  of  two  or 
more  townships  or  counties. 

4.  Meetings  should  be  held  where  the  general  political 
elections  are  held,  or  at  the  most  convenient  place  centrally 
located  for  all  members,  and  not  oftener  than  there  is  im- 
portant business  to  transact  that  can't  be  postponed  to  a 
regular  meeting,  which  should  be  held  quarterly  and  on  the 
same  date  throughout  the  United  States,  say  at  2  p.  m.  on 


ADVOCATE  AND  GUIDE.  167 

the  first  Wednesday  in  March,  June,  September  and  Decem- 
ber. The  executive  committee  of  the  township,  county, 
state  or  national  union  should  have  power  to  call  a  special 
meeting  any  time  for  some  specific  duty  of  the  members,  or 
of  any  class  of  the  executives. 

5.  The  referendum  should  be  used  whenever  possible  on 
all  important  matters,  changes  or  policies  affecting  the  mem- 
bers, and  the  recall  of  all  officials  should  be  provided  for 
when  incompetency,  inefficiency,  neglect  of  duty,  misman- 
agement or  misrepresentation  is  sufficient  cause. 

6.  All  should  pay  a  membership  fee  and  then  quarterly 
dues,  those  for  women,  and  males  under  21,  being  less  than 
for  adult  males,  and  they  should  be  adequate  for  organizing 
and  all  necessary  running  expenses  for  all  divisions  of  the 
union. 

7.  The  union  should  build,  buy  or  lease  all  necessary 
elevators  for  handling  their  wheat,  but  they  should  be  ac- 
quired as  necessary  implements  and  not  as  money  makers 
for  stockholders.  A  graduated  assessment  on  wheat  raised 
in  the  delivery  district  should  be  made  to  acquire  the  ele- 
vator and  buy  wheat,  and  then  only  a  margin  charged  on 
wheat  delivered  to  cover  operating  expense,  leaving  the  in- 
terest to  be  added  to  the  minimum  price  as  overhead  expense. 
Where  other  grains  are  raised  and  are  unionized  they  should 
take  a  joint  ownership  and  management  in  the  elevators. 

8.  All  officers  and  agents  who  handle  the  union's  money 
should  be  put  under  bonds,  and  reports  required  at  regular 
intervals,  and  books  audited  by  competent  parties  regularly. 

9.  At  the  organizing  meeting  the  three  officers — presi- 
dent, vice-president  and  secretary-treasurer — should  be 
elected  for  one,  two  and  three  years  respectively,  dating 
from  the  next  regular  annual  meeting,  which  should  be  one 
of  the  regular  quarterly  meetings,  say  the  December  meeting, 
and  then  the  vacancy  filled  for  three  years  at  each  succeed* 
ing  annual  meeting.     These  three  officers  should  constitute 


168  FARMERS'  UNION  AND  FEDERATION 

the  executive  committee  of  the  local  union,  as  they  should 
of  the  county,  state  and  national  union,  and  be  elected  in 
the  same  manner.  A  township  delegate  should  be  elected 
at  the  same  time  to  membership  in  the  county  wheat  growers' 
union  which  should  be  composed  of  these  delegates  from  each 
of  the  unionized  townships  in  the  county. 

10.  When  ten  or  more  unions  in  a  county  are  organized 
they,  should  be  entitled  to  a  county  union,  and  the  township 
delegates  meet  at  the  county  seat  to  organize  their  county 
union,  and  elect  one  of  their  number  to  membership  in  the 
state  union. 

11.  When  ten  counties  in  a  State  are  unionized  they 
sRould  be  entitled  to  organize  the  State  union  and  the  county 
delegates  meet  for  that  purpose  at  the  State  capital.  They 
should  elect  one  of  their  member  to  membership  in  the 
national  union. 

12.  When  five  States  have  unionized,  they  should  be  en- 
titled to  organize  the  national  wheat  growers'  union  and  their 
delegates  meet  at  Washington  to  organize  it.  Every  union- 
ized State  that  produces  a  million  bushels  of  wheat  should 
be  entitled  to  a  representative  in  the  national  executive  com- 
mittee of  the  national  wheat  growers'  union,  and  one  addi- 
tional member  for  every  ten  million  bushels  of  wheat  pro- 
duced each  year,  to  be  elected  by  its  State  union. 

13.  Each  of  these  four  executive  committees  should  deal 
with  all  matters  in  their  respective  jurisdictions,  or  appoint 
or  elect  special  commissions  to  investigate  and  report  to  the 
full  committee  any  matter  of  special  interest  and  make  such 
recommendations  to  it  as  appears  appropriate. 

14.  Two  methods  of  communication  between  the  mem- 
bers and  the  officials  of  the  four  unions  should  be  provided 
for.  One  through  the  official  daily  bulletin  that  all  mem- 
bers should  take,  and  one  by  letter  or  telegraph  and  tele- 
phone through  union  officials.  The  dues  by  adult  males 
should  include  subscription  to  the  bulletin. 


ADVOCATE  AND  GUIDE.  169 

15.  The  national  union  should  be  incorporated,  and  then 
charter  the  State  unions,  and  the  State  unions  in  turn  charter 
the  township  and  county  unions.  A  part  of  the  member- 
ship fee  and  dues  should  go  to  each  of  the  four  unions — the 
township,  county,  state  and  national  union. 

16.  The  national  union  should  be  the  chief  executive 
for  the  union  and  control  its  policies  and  activities  to  make 
them  uniform  over  the  United  States.  From  its  members 
would  be  selected  the  many  important  sub-committees  on 
all  matters  of  national  and  international  interest  to  the 
union  for  its  information  and  guidance.  This  national  ex- 
ecutive should  have  its  offices  in  Washington  and  be  on  the 
job  all  the  time. 

"Well,  that  is  all  fine ;  but  let's  get  busy  now  and  union- 
ize and  get  to  work  so  we  will  be  prepared  to  apply  the  min- 
imum price  system  to  our  next  crop.  You  call  a  meeting 
of  the  wheat  growers  of  the  county  for  next  Saturday  after- 
noon at  the  court  house  to  unionize  and  we'll  all  be  there  and 
start  it  with  a  big  membership  roll  and  a  great  sendoff. 
Most  of  the  wheat  growers  will  be  in  town  that  day,  and  all 
of  them  will  surely  join  the  union  when  there  is  to  be  so 
much  power  and  money  in  it  for  them.  I  know  no  one  can 
resist  the  power  for  good  that  unionizing  will  bring  them 
through  the  minimum  price  system  you  have  so  fully  and 
plainly  set  forth." 

Conversion  of  Farmers  to  Unionism  the  First  Step. 

Well,  well,  Mr.  Wiseman!  I  thought  you  were  a  farmer 
and  knew  farmers. 

"1  am  a  farmer,  and  a  wheat  grower.  Have  been  about 
all  my  life,  and  I  know  farmers  like  a  book." 

Then  your  name  should  be  Dubb,  for  you  don't  know 
the  first  thing  about  farmers.  They  are  just  like  you,  but 
you  don't  know  it. 

"How  do  you  figure  that  out?" 


170  FARMERS'  UNION  AND  FEDERATION 

Why,  you  and  I  would  be  all  that  would  attend  the 
meeting.  The  balance  have  to  be  converted  to  unionism 
just  as  you  were  before  they  would  attend  a  meeting  to 
unionize.  They  would  say  or  think  ''grafter/'  just  as  you 
did  at  the  beginning  of  this  book  and  pay  no  more  atten- 
tion to  it.  They  must  first  be  taught  to  understand  what  the 
minimum  price  system  is,  how  it  can  be  made  the  means 
for  collecting  skilled  labor  wages  and  overhead  expenses  in 
producing  wheat,  the  great  increase  in  its  price  in  normal 
times,  the  advantages  to  them  in  that  increased  value,  also 
their  political  power,  and  many  other  desirable  things  they 
can  secure  through  unionizing. 

''By  George,  you  are  right  again.  But  how  in  the  world 
can  they  be  converted  to  the  minimum  price  system  so  they 
will  answer  the  call  to  organize? 

This  little  book  converted  you,  didn't  it? 

"Sure,  it  did." 

Well,  it  will  convert  them,  too,  if  they  only  have  an  op- 
portunity to  read  it.  The  first  step  then  is  to  get  this  book 
into  the  hands  of  millions  of  wheat  growers,  and  when  they 
read  it  hundreds  of  thousands  of  them  will  begin  calling  for 
the  organizers  just  as  you  did.  Then  it  will  be  the  time  to 
provide  them,  and  the  meetings  will  be  attended  by  all 
wheat  growers.  Unionizing  will  then  spread  over  all  wheat- 
raising  States  simultaneously  like  a  spontaneous  combus- 
tion, as  it  should  do.  No  wheat  grower  will  want  to  be  a 
slacker,  or  wait  to  see  if  it  will  amount  to  anything,  or  let 
his  neighbors  pay  the  expense  of  unionizing  while  he  expects 
to  get  the  same  reward  without  it.  All  will  have  to  join  the 
union  and  do  team  work  under  the  direction  of  their  own 
official  national  executive  to  get  the  best  results.  It  will 
then  sweep  on  to  victory,  power,  influence  and  control  of  the 
wheat  price  at  once,  as  it  should  do. 

"That's  so.  Desire  must  precede  action.  Let  me  tell 
you  what  to  do  and  then  I'll  tell  you  what  I'll  do." 


ADVOCATE  AND  GUIDE.  171 

Proceed. 

''You  give  a  copy  of  this  book  to  publishers  of  all  farm 
papers,  especially  in  the  big  wheat-raising  States,  and  ask 
them  to  act  as  agents  for  it,  and  advertise  it  through  their 
papers  if  they  approve  of  the  farmers  unionizing  to  get  fair 
wages  and  overhead  expenses  for  their  crops.  They  will 
surely  do  it  if  they  are  really  friends  of  the  farmers.  Then 
get  all  the  farmer  boys  and  girls  you  can  all  over  the  United 
States  to  write  you  for  an  agency  for  the  book  and  thus  get 
it  into  the  hands  of  farmers  just  as  fast  as  possible.  Now  I 
will  order  one  thousand  copies  to  sell  to  farmers,  and  as  soon 
as  they  are  gone  I'll  be  back  for  more." 

Bully  for  you!  Those  are  good  suggestions.  I  shall  re- 
quest the  printer  to  rush  off  an  edition  at  once  to  supply 
you  and  the  farm  papers.  If  they  are  all  as  enthusiastic  as 
you  are  it  will  keep  his  press  busy  supplying  the  demand. 
Then  it  will  be  but  a  short  time  until  I  get  thousands  of 
calls  for  the  organizers,  and  from  the  callers  I  shall  select  one 
or  more  from  each  State  to  constitute  the  temporary  or- 
ganizing committee  to  incorporate  the  National  Wheat 
Growers'  Union,  adopt  a  constitution,  and  commission  field 
organizers.  This  plan  gives  the  rank  and  file  of  the  wheat 
growers  themselves  the  chance  to  inaugurate  the  movement 
as  they  should  do  from  their  own  numbers  and  class.  In 
the  meantime  I  shall  try  to  get  up  a  tentative  draft  of  a 
constitution  and  by-laws  to  submit  to  the  organizing  com- 
mittee. When  anyone  wants  a  local  union  organized  it  will 
be  up  to  him  to  convert  the  wheat  growers  of  the  district 
to  be  organized  to  the  minimum  price  system  by  getting 
this  little  book  into  their  hands.  I  shall  arrange  to  give 
any  reliable  person  a  commission  agency  for  the  book  who 
desires  to  aid  in  its  distribution,  and  to  publishers  of  all 
farm  papers  who  wish  to  aid  the  farmers  in  unionizing  on 
this  plan.  Those  wishing  to  aid  on  the  organizing  committee 
may  write  me  stating  age,  experience  in  organizing  work, 


172  FARMERS'  UNION  AND  FEDERATION 

how  many  years  they  have  raised  wheat,  how  many  bushels 
annually,  and  give  the  address  of  their  banker  and  two  wheat 
growers  as  reference.  When  I  get  representative  wheat 
raisers  from  several  States  on  the  organizing  list  I  shall  call 
them  together  to  organize  the  union,  elect  their  officers  and 
take  full  charge  of  all  its  organizing  work  until  the  union  is 
established  and  its  elected  officers  are  ready  to  assume  their 
duties.  When  this  book  is  well  distributed  among  wheat 
growers  there  should  develop  a  big  demand  for  organizers  of 
township  unions  in  all  the  big  wheat  raising  States,  and  my 
plan  would  be  to  commission  a  State  organizer  for  each 
State,  who  would  in  turn  commission  county  organizers  for 
counties  in  the  State,  who  would  organize  the  township 
unions,  thus  mobilizing  the  full  strength  of  wheat  growers 
into  the  union  in  the  shortest  possible  time. 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
STAMPED  BELOW 


AN  INITIAL  FINE  OF  25  CENTS 

WILL  BE  ASSESSED  FOR  FAILURE  TO  RETURN 
THIS  BOOK  ON  THE  DATE  DUE.  THE  PENALTY 
WILL  INCREASE  TO  50  CENTS  ON  THE  FOURTH 
DAY  AND  TO  $1.00  ON  THE  SEVENTH  DAY 
OVERDUE. 


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OCT  9    '64 '5  PM 

LD  21-100m-7,'33 


YB  62847 


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UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


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